


"You're always gonna be my baby."

by ifzi0531



Series: "You're always gonna be my baby." [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Daddy Niall, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 16:19:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 46,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/712669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifzi0531/pseuds/ifzi0531
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><div class="center">
  <p> </p>
  <p>    <img/></p>
</div><strong>
  <div class="center">
    <p>"I love you, Daddy."</p>
  </div>
</strong><p> </p><p>  <strong></strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  <strong></strong></p><div class="center"><p><strong>"I love you too, baby."</strong></p></div><p></p><p> </p><p>Niall is a single father, living the most of his life with his bestfriends, Harry and Liam. Somehow, Louis enters in his life, alongside with Zayn. But his son will stay as his main priority, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m back!!!!” Harry sing-songs loudly as soon as he steps into the house. Niall and Adam who are watching the movie turns their head and Adam leaps out of the couch to run towards Harry. 

“Uncle Harry!!” Adam yells excitedly and Harry opens his arms for Adam to leap on it and he hugs the small kid tightly. “Adam! My favourite nephew!” Harry says excitedly, making Adam chuckles. 

“He’s your only nephew, Haz.” Niall snorts as Harry sits down beside him with Adam still clinging in his arms. 

Harry lets out a mock sound of surprise as he looks at Niall. “How dare you say things like that?” Harry exclaims dramatically. Niall laughs out loud and pulls Harry into a brief hug. “Welcome home, Harry.” 

“Thanks, Ni.” Harry replies as they pulls away and Harry looks at Adam who is sitting bouncingly on his lap. 

“So, my man Adam, how’s life?” Harry asks the little child. 

“I’m in a kindergarten now!” Adam exclaims excitedly. 

“Really? Wow, you’ve grown! Do you like your school?” Harry asks with an interest. It had been a while since he met Niall and Adam and he feels a little bit missed out on their lives. 

“I love it! And there’s this teacher that I love so much!” Adam says. 

“Really? Is she pretty?” Harry asks suggestively and he hears Niall snorts and laughs beside him. Well, it’s not his fault that he loves pretty girls. 

“Uncle Harry! The teacher is a ‘He’, not ‘She’.” Adam says and rolls his eyes like Harry had asked the most ridiculous question ever. Harry laughs at Adam’s cute action and pokes the little kid’s nose. 

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. What about this teacher? What’s his name?” 

“I call him Mr. Lou! He is always making us laughs! He’s funny! I love him!” Adam exclaims excitedly again with a high-pitch voice. 

“Really? Is _he_ pretty?” Harry asks as he glances towards Niall and Niall rolls his eyes at Harry. 

“Very! He has light blue eyes, not like daddy but it is beautiful too. And he always smiles and laughs, pretty much like daddy.” Adam gives his description about his favourite teacher. 

“Really? He sounds like a good pair for your daddy.” Harry says and he feels Niall thumps his head. 

“Adam, go get your homework and we can do it together, okay?” Niall says and Adam nods, leaping out from Harry’s lap and walks towards his bedroom. Once Adam leaves, Niall thumps Harry’s head again. 

“Ow! What was that for?” Harry whines. 

Niall shakes his head. “What was _that_ for?” Niall says referring to Harry’s comment earlier. 

“Well, the teacher sounds like a hot lad. Have you ever met him?” Harry asks as he rubs his head. 

“Nope. And I never intend too.” Niall replies. 

“Really? What a waste. He sounds hot. I think I’m going to find out more about him.” Harry says as he raises his eyebrows suggestively at Niall. 

Niall laughs out loud at Harry’s flirty face. “You’re not even gay!” 

“I know. I’m checking him out for you.” Harry says, sticking his tongue out and yelps later when a pillow lands on his face. 

**

Harry enters the café and smiles at the familiar smells of coffee and breads. It is still early in the morning and the café is not even open yet. Harry spots a figure near the counter and he walks towards the figure. 

“Hi, Li Li.” Harry greets and the figure turns around, gasping in surprise. “Hey, superstar! Long time no see!” 

Harry rolls his eyes fondly at Liam, already used to Liam’s teasing him about his current status. Well, it’s not his fault that his music career soars up so well that he is now is known as one of the superstars. 

“So, what’s up with you and Danielle? When will I be favourite Uncle Harry?” Harry asks suggestively. 

Liam laughs. “We’re trying but we’re only 21 and still young, Haz.” He replies to Harry’s question. 

“Well, Niall is the same age as you but he already got a 5-year-old son.” Harry points out at the same time Niall appears besides them, dropping a box of new glasses on the counter. 

“Hey, leave me out of this conversation, okay?” Niall scolds but he smiles nonetheless. 

Liam shakes his head and looks fondly at Niall. “Well, he’s a special snowflake.” 

“Li! I told you not to call me that!” Niall whines and bats away Liam’s hand from ruffling his hair. 

Harry lets out a loud laughs at his friends’ antic. It had always been known that Liam is so fond of Niall since they were kids. “Oh, I miss this so much!” Harry exclaims excitedly. He has a feeling that this tour break will be fun for him. 

**

“Take care of yourself, okay? Daddy loves you.” Niall says as he hugs his son and harry rolls his eyes fondly at the scene

“Ni, I’m going to drive him to his school, not kidnapping him.” Harry teases his bestfriend.

“Well, you’re not exactly the best driver.” Niall deadpans. 

“Hey!” Harry exclaims before he pulls Adam’s hand in him. “Let’s go, Adam.” 

“Bye daddy.” Adam says as he waves back at Niall until they reaches Harry’s car. Harry shakes his head at the adorable exchange and smiles. 

Harry turns to the first corner and glances at Adam. “So Adam, how’s daddy?” Harry asks. It’s not that he doesn’t know about Niall but sometimes little kid speaks more honest than the adult. 

“Daddy is good. He always makes me laugh. We went to watch Ice Age last week. It was fun.” Adam says bubbly. Harry smiles at Adam’s cute talking voice. Harry knows Niall loves Adam so much and will do anything for his son. Everyone knows how precious Adam is to Niall. 

Adam continues to ramble excitedly. “I have friends in school! Daddy lets me play at their house sometimes. It’s cool!” 

“Really? So you like going to school, yeah?” Harry remembers how he loved going to school because he had Niall and Liam. They were like three musketeers back then and Harry is glad they are still like that until now. 

Harry stops his car and wince a little as he looks at his watch. They arrive a little bit late and he just got out of the car with Adam when he hears someone is talking behind him. 

“Adam! I thought you aren’t coming.” Harry turns his head to see the belonging of the slightly raspy voice. 

“Mr. Lou! I’m sorry I’m late. Uncle Harry is a slow driver.” Adam explains innocently and Harry hears Louis laughs. 

Harry extends his arms to shake Louis’s. “Hi, I’m Harry. Sorry for that. His dad warned me to drive his son safely.” 

Louis laughs again. “Well, that’s understandable. And by the way, I’m Louis and I know who you are, Harry. Who doesn’t know the world’s famous superstar at the moment?” 

Harry laughs at Louis’s teasing tone. He likes this guy already. He’d be a perfect fit for Niall, Harry thought to himself. The thing is, Harry is always the one who believes in sappy romantic story and what could’ve been better than being in one, right?


	2. Chapter 2

“How are you today, Adam?” Louis asks the small child in front of him. Louis had been smitten with the bubbly kid since the first time Louis laid his eyes on him. The kid is cute, with his little blonde-haired and bubbly personality and he always happy, it warms Louis’s heart. And after he found out that the kid loves his daddy so much, and knowing that the kid doesn’t have a mother, Louis becomes more protective towards him.

“I’m fine, Mr. Lou! Uncle Harry bought me new shoes. Look!” Adam says as he points out at his new shiny purple shoes. 

Louis smiles at Adam’s happy face. “That’s very nice of him. Is he your daddy’s brother?” Louis asks, since he doesn’t know that Adam is a famous Harry Styles’s nephew. Plus Adam last name is Horan, not Styles. 

“Nope. He’s daddy’s friend. He lives with us.” Adam says and Louis nods understandingly. Louis tells Adam to take a seat and he smiles as Adam sits between his friends and starts to chat happily, pointing at his new shoes. Louis shakes his head fondly. This kid is too adorable. 

**

Zayn twirls his finger around his pencil as he is thinking on what to doodle next. It has been a slow day of business at the art gallery and he starts to become restless. He is about to draw on his canvas back when he hears the door opens. He looks up and finds a young lad comes in and walks toward him. 

“Hi. I want to ask if I can buy art decorations here.” Zayn smiles as he hears the Irish accent comes out from the young lad’s mouth. 

“Hi. Yes, I can show you some examples. Would you like to see some of it?” Zayn asks politely as he leads the lad towards one of the corners of the art gallery. They start to talk and Zayn finds out that the young lad’s name is Niall and he owns a little café down the road and wants to find some new art decorations for his café. 

“Wow, these are all good.” Niall says and Zayn blushes slightly as Niall stares right into his eyes. Zayn never thought that he could like someone this fast and he couldn’t help but drown into the sea of blue eyes that belongs to Niall. Cheesy, he knows but that is what he feels at the moment and he can’t help it. 

“Yeah, you can pick any theme that you want. It depends whether you want to decorate your café with the calm theme or retro theme or maybe a vintage one.” Zayn suggests and stares at Niall. 

“Well, I was thinking of something vintage earlier. I might want to ask my partner again about that.” Niall says and Zayn feels a little bit disappointed. 

“Partner?” Shit. Zayn curses himself as soon as the question comes out from his lips. He doesn’t want to blurt it out loud but his stupid mouth has a different idea than his brain. Great. 

Niall chuckles at Zayn’s surprise tone. “Business partner. We share the ownership of the café.” Niall explains and Zayn swears his cheek is hot because of the weather, not because of the embarrassment.

“So, you’ll decide later?” Zayn asks and Niall nods. “If that’s the case, you can leave your contact number here so that I can follow up with you later.” He continues and feels a little excited about the prospect of having Niall’s number in his hand. Unprofessional, he knows, but he can use it after working hours too, right? 

Niall scribbles his phone number on the paper at the counter and smiles at Zayn as he finishes. He then thanks Zayn for his help and promises to come back in a couple of days. Once Niall walks out of the door, Zayn lets out a relief breath. He doesn’t think that he had met a guy like Niall before. His eyes are so beautiful and his skin looks like a porcelain and Zayn doesn’t know what is happening to his heart which is rapidly beating at the moment. He just knows that maybe, he just falls in love at the first sight. 

**

“Well, I met the infamous Mr. Lou yesterday.” Harry starts the conversation as soon as he sits beside Niall on the couch. Niall is watching the discovery channel about the koala and Harry shakes his head fondly. His bestfriend is too adorable sometimes. 

“Oh, okay.” Niall responses distractedly and Harry scoffs. 

“Ni, are you even listening to me?” Harry whines and tries to grab the remote control from Niall’s hand. Niall tries to put the remote control away from Harry but Harry’s height advantage makes him successfully takes the remote control and switches off the television. 

“Okay, my dear princess Hazza. Why can’t you leave me in peace tonight?” Niall asks sarcastically as he turns to look at Harry. 

“Well, I want to talk to you about Mr. Lou also known as Louis and also known as one of the hottest guys I’ve ever laid my eyes on.” Harry says and grins at Niall. 

Niall rolls his eyes and shrugs carelessly. “So? What’s so important about that?” Niall asks. 

“The thing is, I have a feeling that he is a good guy. Why don’t you meet him? I mean, mingle around. You might as well get to know him because he is Adam’s teacher.” Harry says suggestively. 

“Well, I know he is Adam’s teacher and I know Adam seems to worship him so he must be a good guy but I don’t see the point where I should get to know him further than that.” Niall replies and crosses his arms over his chest as he looks at Harry. He knows where Harry is getting at but he refuses to play the game.

“Ni, you know what I mean. You had been single too long after you know..Sean.” Harry says and he can feel Niall flinches at the mention of the name of his last boyfriend. 

“You know what happened, Haz.” Niall says. 

“I know. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try again.” Harry says as he stares at his bestfriend. He wants the best for Niall and he got the feeling that Louis is really the best for Niall. Don’t ask how, he just feels it.

“Well, I don’t want to.” Niall says as he slumps back on the couch, closing his eyes before he continues. “ _He_ hated Adam, Haz. I was so in love with him that I didn’t realize what he had been doing to my kid. He almost beat up Adam and if I didn’t walk into the room that time..” 

Harry put his hands on Niall’s arms and pats it softly. He knows Niall is talking about Sean but Harry has a feeling that Louis is nothing like that. “Not all the guys are like that douche, Ni. Louis loves Adam and I know you know that Adam loves him too.” Harry says. 

Niall opens his eyes and lets out a small smile for Harry. “Thanks for the suggestion, Haz. But don’t worry about me, yeah? I just want to focus on Adam and I know I’m happy when my kid is happy.” Niall says and then he stands up, stretching a little and yawns loudly. “Going to bed now, bye Haz. Nite.” 

Harry sighs and he can only watch in frustration as Niall leaves him alone in the living room.


	3. Chapter 3

“Do you really think it’s a good idea?” Liam asks, doubting Harry’s idea as soon as the curly-haired lad laid out his plan to Liam and Danielle. 

“Li, you yourself said to me that you want to see Niall happy and worry that he had been single for too long.” Harry points out as he stares at his bestfriend. He knows Liam is quite reluctant with the idea so he turns to look at Danielle for support. “Dani, what say you?” Harry asks. 

Danielle put her hand under her chin and rests it on the counter and stares at both Liam and Harry. “Well, sorry dear, but I think I’m with Harry in this one.” She says. 

“But..” Liam trails off. “What if he gets mad at us?” He asks. 

Harry shakes his head. “He won’t. You know Niall, he is not the one who can hold grudges. Plus, he knows that we’re doing this for his own sake, not us.” Harry says confidently. 

Liam sighs as he stares at Harry and Danielle who are waiting for his answer. He knows that Harry is right. The idea sounds good actually. “Fine. I’m in.” Liam says finally and he laughs as Harry makes a victory dance after that. 

**

Harry smiles as he looks around the house. The balloons are filling the living room and a bunch of kids are enjoying their candies at one corner of the house. It had been a week ago when Harry suggested to Niall to throw Adam’s birthday party at Liam’s house instead of their own place. Harry managed to convince Niall that their crib is messy with Harry’s stuff and it didn’t seem like good idea to invite guests to their crib. The truth is, Harry wants the party to be held at Liam’s because he wants to make it easy for Louis to come to the party. He had invited Louis to Adam’s birthday party and Louis had agreed to go because he pointed out that Liam’s house is nearby his house and easy to reach. Bingo, Harry thought to himself at that moment. 

“Louis!” Harry calls out as soon as he spots Louis at the front yard. He waves at Louis to come and the lad walks towards him with a big smile and hands a gift box to Harry. “For the birthday boy.” Louis says and Harry nods, putting it on top of the other presents. He then grabs Louis’s arms and leads him further into the house. 

“Where are you taking me?” Louis asks and Harry just grins at him. 

Harry reaches the kitchen and greets them loudly. “Hey guys! This is Louis.” Harry introduces the guy beside him. He then turns to Louis and leads him to everyone in the kitchen. “This is Liam and his wife, Danielle.” Harry says and Louis shakes Liam’s hands warmly and pecks on Danielle’s cheek sweetly. “This is Maura and Bobby, Adam’s grandparents.” Harry points out and Louis repeats the same action as before. “No wonder Adam is so cute, you two look so young and vibrant.” Louis says and Harry rolls his eyes fondly at Louis’s charming action. When they finish with their little introduction, they are all then engrossed in the conversation about Adam and everyone seems to be fond of Louis immediately. When Harry catches Liam’s eyes at one point of the group conversation, he throws a smile that says ‘I told you so’ and Liam smiles back sheepishly, agreeing with Harry. Louis really seems like a great guy. 

**

Niall walks to the front door and is looking for Adam when he spots his son playing with someone at the front yard. He watches fondly as Adam laughs when the guy tickles him and Niall tries to figure out if he knows the guy but he doesn’t think so. 

“He’s really good with Adam, isn’t he?” Niall turns to watch Harry who is suddenly standing beside him. “Who is that? Is he your friend?” Niall asks.

“Well, that’s Louis or you might know him by Mr. Lou.” Harry replies. 

“Mr Lou as in Adam’s teacher?” Niall asks, surprises by how young Louis actually is. He thought that Adam’s teacher is not that young and let’s just admit it, pretty. 

Harry nods and looks at Niall. “Yes. I invited him over for the party, you don’t mind, do you?” Harry asks.

Niall is about to reply to Harry when suddenly Adam and Louis look at him. “Daddy!” Adam screams excitedly and runs into Niall’s arms. Niall crouches down to hug his son and kisses his cheeks lovingly. “Do you miss me?” Niall asks. 

“Of course I do!” Adam replies and kisses Niall’s cheeks in return. “Where is the cake?” Adam asks impatiently and Niall chuckles. “Go ask your grandma.” Niall says and Adam skips excitedly towards the kitchen. Niall stands up straight after that and smiles at Louis who is standing in front of him. 

“Wow, no wonder Adam is such a cute kid, looking at you now, it must be runs in the genes.” Louis says bluntly making Niall blushes and Harry laughs out loud. 

Harry looks at both of the guys and grins widely. “Niall, meet Louis.” Harry points out before he continues. “Louis, this is Niall, Adam’s daddy.”   
“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you from Adam.” Niall says as he extends his hand to shake’s Louis but Louis goes to hug him instead and says, “Hope it’s all about good things” before he pulls away. 

Niall who is quite surprise with Louis’s friendliness nods. “Only the good ones.” Niall smiles and Louis smiles back. 

Harry watches the exchange from the sideline with a giddy feeling. He can feel the sparks fly and yes, he is not ashamed to admit that he has the urge to sing Sparks Fly on the spot.


	4. Chapter 4

Zayn enters the café and finds a single spot near the bar stools and sits on it. He looks around the café and smiles at how cozy it looks. It’s not a fancy café and the colour and decoration brings out the casual feeling for the customers and Zayn really appreciates it. 

“Zayn! Wow, I don’t think I have seen you came here before.” Zayn smiles as soon as Niall spots him and starts to talk. 

“Yeah. My first time. You seem to talk about this place a lot so I decided to check it out.” Zayn replies and smiles at Niall’s happy face. 

“That’s great! What do you like to drink?” Niall asks and Zayn replies with coke, making Niall chuckles. 

“What’s so funny?” Zayn asks, referring to Niall’s chuckle. 

“Nothing. It’s just. You went in here looking like a bad boy with your bikers jean and all, and then you sits at the bar stools, only to order coke instead of alcohols, it’s just seems funny to me.” Niall explains. 

Zayn laughs at Niall’s comment and leans in closer to Niall as it looks like he wants to tell Niall his biggest secret. “Well, I can’t help that I have a garden of flowers surrounding my black bad boy heart.” Zayn deadpans, making Niall laughs out loud. Zayn smiles proudly as he watches Niall laughing. He is proud that he is the one who makes Niall laughs because trust Zayn, Niall’s laugh is so lovely and contagious and Zayn seems to falls in love with it when he first heard it. 

Zayn and Niall continue to talk for a while since there are no new customers coming in at the moment and Niall is a bit free to entertain him. Zayn listens as Niall points out to the wall at the corner of the café where Niall says he wants to put up the art decorations. He loves to listen to Niall’s voice and doesn’t mind that Niall sometimes rambling on something that he doesn’t really understand. 

At one end of the café, Liam watches in curiosity as Zayn seems to stare at Niall a lot when the blonde-haired lad talks and laughs. He makes a mental note to himself to talk about it with Niall later. 

**

Liam watches as Zayn waves Niall and leaves before he starts to walk towards his bestfriend. “Who was that?” Liam asks as he looks at Niall beside him. 

“Oh, his name is Zayn. He’s working at the art gallery down the road.” Niall explains.

Liam nods, remembering that Niall had told him about his visit to the art gallery couple of days before. “He’s hot.” Liam comments and stares at his bestfriend to gauge for his reaction. 

Niall laughs. “Yeah, yeah, it’s about the cheekbone, right?” 

Liam nods, agreeing with Niall. Cheekbones and eyelashes, those were two things that Liam noticed earlier about the guy. “So, are you going to ask him for date, then? He seems interested in you.”

Niall rolls his eyes and punches Liam’s shoulder slightly. “No one that hot is going to be interested in me. Plus, Li, I’m not going to hit every hot things that move! I’m not Harry.” Niall says. 

“Not me, what?” Harry’s voice suddenly pipes in as he is suddenly standing in front of his bestfriends and only overheard the end of the conversation.

“This friend of yours has made a new hot friend and he doesn’t want to hit him and makes a move.” Liam explains.

Harry takes a seat and his face perks up in interest. “Really? What’s his name?” Harry asks scandalously.

“Zayn.” Liam replies. “Shit, even the name is sounds sexy.” Liam says and both of him and Harry cracks up.

Niall rolls his eyes and throws the bean that he had been eating to both of his best friends. “Perverts!”

Liam and Harry continue to laugh at Niall’s expense until Harry wipes his tears as he stops laughing. “But what about Louis, Ni?” 

Niall raises his eyebrows at Harry. “What about him?” 

“Well, you guys seemed smitten with each other last weekend.” Harry says and raises his eyebrows suggestively as he looks at Niall. 

Niall blushes slightly. Yes, he kinds of fond of Louis since the beginning. Louis doesn’t really make it subtle either that he likes Niall too. 

“You like him, don’t you?” Harry teases and Liam laughs as Niall’s cheeks go bright red and the blue-eyed lad seems to avoid looking at both of his bestfriends. “No, I’m not.” Niall denies. 

“Yes, you are.” Harry states confidently. 

“No, I’m not.” Niall replies again. 

“Yes, you are.” Liam joins Harry and both of them high-five each other when they sees Niall goes red on the ears also. 

“No, I’m..shit! I’m late to pick up Adam!” Niall says as he finally realizes at the time. He ignores Harry and Liam’s laughs and teasing “send our lovely regards to Lou” and jogs his way towards his car.

**

“Hi baby! I’m sorry I’m late.” Niall apologizes as soon as he spots his son and hugs him. “It’s okay, daddy.” Adam replies and waves his goodbye to Louis before he climbs into the passenger side of Niall’s car. Niall watches Adam before he turns to face Louis and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry if he takes your time to wait for me.” 

Louis smiles and shakes his head. “It’s okay. I love spending time with him. He’s a nice kid.” Louis says.

Niall nods. “He is. By the way, thanks again for looking out for him.” They smile at each other and stares into his each other’s eyes before Niall averts his eyes finally and blushes. He just realizes that Louis has a pretty eyes and it doesn’t help that Louis is boldly staring at his eyes at the moment. 

Louis smiles adorably as he notices Niall’s red cheeks before he clears his throat. “So..I..um..I’m just wondering if you’re free tomorrow night?” 

Niall lets out a big smile and starts to say ‘yes’ before he remembers something. “Oh, I have an open mic event at the café tomorrow night..” Niall trails off. 

“Oh..” Louis replies, sounds disappointed. His face falls a little and Niall feels his chest constrict at the thought of making the happy guy in front of him upset. 

“But I’m free for the whole day on Saturday.” Niall pipes in.

Louis’s eyes lit up again and he grins widely at Niall. “Great! That’s better. I can meet you earlier then. Pick you up at 10?” Louis asks. 

“a.m?” Niall asks. 

“Yes!” Louis nods excitedly. 

Niall smiles at Louis. “Okay, I’ll text you my address later.”

Louis scrunches his nose confusingly. “But the party the other day?” 

“That was Liam’s house.” Niall explains. 

Louis nods understandingly. “Okay, then. It’s a date.” Louis says before he winks at Niall and turns to walk away, leaving a flustered Niall. 

Niall watches as Louis walks into the school back and Niall suddenly goes into a panic mode. “Oh god, what have I done?” Niall mumbles to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

“You, what?” Harry shrieks before his mouth is clasped by Niall’s hands.

“Shhhh, Adam’s asleep.” Niall scolds Harry and pulls his hands grossly as Harry licks his hands. “Euwwww, Haarry!!” Niall whines a little too loudly.

“Shh, Ni. Adam’s asleep.” Harry mocks his bestfriend.

Niall throws the pillow on the couch on Harry, “Jerks!” he mutters.

Harry chuckles as he wraps his arm around the smaller lad. “So, my little Nialler is going to a date, huh?” Harry says as he tightens his arms around Niall making the Irish lad wriggles in his arms. 

Niall rolls his eyes at Harry. “Excuse me, I’m not little, you’re younger than me.” 

“Only by a year.” Harry argues his point. “So, tell me, are you excited?” Harry asks Niall as he tilts his head a little to look down at Niall.

Niall shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean I am but I’m scared too.” Niall admits. 

Harry nods understandingly. “It’ll be fine. Not everyone is like Sean, Ni. I have a feeling that Louis is a nice guy.” 

Niall tilts his head to look up at Harry. “You think so?” Niall asks, still unsure with his decision.

“Yeah, trust me, I always right with my gut feelings.” Harry replies confidently. 

 

“But there was one time..” Niall starts to tease and Harry glares at him. “We don’t talk about that. Ever.” Harry warns and Niall laughs out loud as Harry pouts. Harry had made Niall promised that they would never ever ever talk about _that_ story again. 

 

**

 

“Hi, Zayn!” Niall greets happily as soon as he steps into the art gallery. Zayn smiles and greets Niall in return. 

“So, you guys have decided on what to buy for the café?” Zayn asks as he leads Niall to sit at the table besides the counter. 

Niall nods excitedly as he looks at Zayn. “Yeah, we’ve decided on vintage theme. Do you have anything else besides the ones that are displayed?” Niall asks and Zayn nods. He bends down to pick up a large book under the table and lays it in front of Niall. 

“Here are some other collections that I have at home. You can pick from here also.” Zayn explains, smiling at the wide grin that plastered on Niall’s face. Adorable. 

“Cool!” Niall exclaims excitedly. “You draw all of these?” Niall asks as he glances at Zayn. 

“Yeah.” Zayn replies and blushes when Niall says he loves all of it. 

“I wish I have talent like you.” Niall says and grins at Zayn. Zayn feels his heart beats rapidly as Niall leans closer to him to point out which painting that he would like to buy. Zayn can feel the rush of the blood comes to his cheek and he swallows nervously. Being so close with Niall, he can smell Niall’s hair and he can also see freckles on Niall’s face. 

“Niall..” Zayn trails off. 

“Yes?” Niall replies, glancing at Zayn and raising his eyebrows questioningly. 

“Look, I’m not the one who likes to go around the bush so I’m going to be honest with you, yeah?” Zayn says as he stares right into Niall’s eyes. Niall nods and Zayn takes it as a cue for him to continue. 

“I like you. I like you since the first time I laid my eyes on you and I would like to get to know you better. So, forgive me if I a bit forward but I prefer honesty rather than game so Niall, if I offer to take you out for a date, would you like to accept it?” Zayn asks. 

Niall’s mouth opens slightly in surprise and he blinks once, twice. “Oh.” Is all that he manages to respond after Zayn’s statement. He never had anyone being so honest and blunt with him like that and Niall is taken by surprise by Zayn’s demeanor. When he realizes that his lack of response is making Zayn thinking that he is rejecting the offer, Niall starts to speak up again. “Thanks for the offer, Zayn. I’m glad that you’re honest with me. It’s just..hurm, can I take the raincheck?” Niall asks. His mind is still processing on Zayn’s bluntness and he can’t decide on what to do. 

Zayn smiles and nods at Niall, satisfy with the Irish lad’s answer. Niall doesn’t exactly say no so he stills have a chance, right? 

 

**

 

“I told you so!” Liam says and laughs out loud. He laughs again when Niall glares at him and pouts.

“That doesn’t help at all, Li.” Niall says, rolling his eyes as Liam cracks up. 

“Poor baby. Come to mama.” Danielle pipes in as she opens his arms for Niall and Niall goes to bury his face in the crook of her neck. “Li Li is evil.” Niall whines and Danielle laughs. “That’s why I love him.” Danielle says as she looks at Liam and both of them laugh when Niall whines again. 

“What do you guys think that I should do?” Niall asks after he pulls away from Danielle and takes a seat in front of them on the couch at Liam’s living room. 

“Just follow your heart, Ni.” Liam says simply and Danielle nods, agreeing with her husband. 

“But it’s too early. I don’t even know what my heart wants at the moment.” Niall confesses. Everything is so sudden. He used to be alone but now Louis had asked him for a date and suddenly Zayn had asked for the same thing too. “Argh!” Niall groans, frustrating with the situation at the moment. 

Danielle looks at Niall and reaches for his arm. “Look, Ni. You’re not attached to anyone at the moment. You have the right to choose which one you think is the best for you. What I could suggest is, you can go out with both of them and later on you can decide on what your heart wants.” Danielle says and glances at Liam. Liam nods, agreeing with his wife. 

Niall looks at both of them and sighs dejectedly. “Okay.” He says. He pulls out his cellphone and starts to scroll down the name until he finds the number. “Hello, Zayn. About your offer the other day..” Niall trails off as soon as the person on the other end of the line picks up. He then looks at Liam and Danielle and when both of them nod encouragingly, Niall continues to talk confidently. “..I would like to accept it.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh! My! God! This is so great!” Niall exclaims excitedly as soon as he steps into the theme park. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he got out of the car, only to find that Louis is bringing him to the theme park on their first date. Niall always wishes that his first date would be like this and Louis is fulfilling his wishes and Niall never had been happier with that fact. 

“So, you like it?” Louis asks, as he looks at the excited lad beside him. 

“I love it!” Niall nods excitedly as his eyes are wandering around to see which game that he would like to try first. 

Louis smiles fondly at Niall’s childlike behavior at the moment. Harry may have helped Louis a little with the plan of taking Niall to the theme park. Harry had told Louis that Niall is barely having fun for himself and always put everyone else’s happiness first, especially Adam. That is why Louis had decided to bring Niall to have fun on their first date and it makes Louis happy too because he really loves theme park as well. 

“Great. Next time, we’ll bring Adam along, yeah?” Louis suggests making Niall’s eyes lit up happily and the younger lad hugs Louis tightly. “That’s a fantastic idea!” Niall says as soon as he pulls away. 

They spend couple of hours at the theme park happily and Niall even manages to get a toy for Adam at one of the games he plays. Louis even manages to hold Niall’s hand at one point and both of them smiles happily as they walks together, their hands tangle with each other’s. 

**

“Well, here I am.” Niall announces as soon as they reaches his front door. Louis smiles and nods as he standing in front of him. Niall smiles back and feels slightly awkward at the moment. He knows most people ends up kissing at the end of their date but Niall feels like it is too soon to do that with Louis. He had a failure with his past relationship and he doesn’t want to rush into anything at the moment. 

Niall takes a sharp breath when Louis leans in closer to him. He is about to tell Louis that he doesn’t think that it is such a good idea when suddenly Louis’s lips lands on his cheek. “Goodnight, Nialler.” Louis wishes when he finishes. Niall grins widely and blushes slightly at the sweetness of Louis’s gesture. 

“Goodnight, Louis.” Niall wishes back. 

Louis smiles and pats Niall’s cheek with his thumb. “I know you thought I wanted to kiss you. I did want to, and I still _do_ but I know it is too soon for both of us. So I guess, we could take a sweet time getting to know each other and maybe when the time comes, I could kiss you all the time.” Louis says and Niall feels his cheeks are getting warm and nods slightly. He loves how Louis understands him and seems so mature about it eventhough the older lad always acts like a child. This is a side of Louis that Niall would like to embrace more. 

“Thanks for everything, Lou. For today, and for this. For being so understanding.” Niall says and Louis nods. “No problem, love.” 

This time, Niall is the one who leans closer to Louis and kisses his cheeks in return. “Take care, babe.” Niall says and they waves each other goodbyes with a big smile plastered on their happy faces. 

**

“Daddy!” Adam greets Niall excitedly as soon as Niall steps into the house and closes the front door. 

“Hey, why aren’t you in bed yet?” Niall asks and glances at Harry as he scoops up Adam in his arms. Harry grins at Niall guiltily and shrugs. 

“Uncle Harry and I baked some cupcakes.” Adam tells his daddy excitedly and Niall smiles fondly at his son. 

“Really? Do you save some for me?” Niall asks Adam and his son nods enthusiastically. “Of course I save some for you, daddy!”

Niall laughs and nods. “Hurm,okay. Since tomorrow is Sunday and you baked some cupcakes for me too, I’ll let you off this time but next time, you have to be in bed before 10, okay?”

Adam smiles and salutes his dad. “Yes, daddy!”

“Good boy.” Niall praises as he puts down Adam and kneels in front of his son. “Here, I’ve got something for you.” Niall says as he put out the toy that he won at the theme park from the bag that he is holding at the moment. 

“Wow! Is this for me?” Adam asks as he grabs the toy from Niall’s hand. 

“Yes.” Niall smiles at the happy smiles that tug on his son’s face. Whenever Adam is happy, he is happy too. 

“Thank you daddy! I love you!” Adam exclaims excitedly as he clutches his new toy tightly. 

“I love you too. Now, are you ready to go to bed?” Niall asks as he stands up and looks at his son. 

“Yes.” Adam replies and put up his hands for Niall to pick him up again. Niall picks his son up and carries the small bundle in his arms to his bedroom and lay him down gently on the bed. 

“Teeth?” Niall asks and Adam opens his mouth, showing the teeth to his father. “Brushed already.” Adam grins. 

Niall nods in satisfaction. ”Good. Now go to sleep, yeah. Sweet dream baby.” Niall says as he leans down to kiss Adam’s forehead before he tucks his son in. Niall switches off the light and before he walks out from the room, he hears a small voice says “sweet dream too daddy.” 

**

“So, how was the date?” Liam asks his bestfriend as he wriggles his eyebrows at Niall suggestively.

“Like Harry didn’t tell you about it.” Niall rolls his eyes. Harry had interrogated him the night before and he was sure that Harry had called Liam immediately after that to dish the info to the said guy in front of him. 

“Yeah well, I was just being polite.” Liam chuckles. “But I really like to see by my own eyes how happy you are after the date.” He continues. 

Niall cracks out loud and then he starts to tell Liam the same thing that he told Harry the night before. He tells Liam about how Louis had taken him to the theme park and they spent the whole day having fun and laughter. Niall also tells Liam about how Louis was so considerate and patient and really matures despite his childlike attitude that he likes to portray all of the time. 

Liam smiles as he watches Niall talks animatedly in front of him. It had been a while since he had seen Niall looks this happy and this time Niall seems happy for himself and Liam really likes that. Niall always put his son’s happiness first and forgets about his own but somehow Liam can see that Louis is making his bestfriend happy. 

“That’s great.” Liam says as soon as Niall finishes. “But what about Zayn?” Liam asks. He doesn’t want to be a party pooper but he likes to remind Niall that he still have someone else to be thinking about besides Louis. 

Niall’s eyes go wide upon Liam’s question and he bangs his head on the table. “Shit!” He mutters.


	7. Chapter 7

“This place is beautiful!” Niall exclaims as he looks at the lake in front of him. He had agreed to take Zayn’s offer for a date and somehow ends up at the beautiful place where he is standing at the moment. 

 

“Yeah. I like this place and I figure you would like it too.” Zayn says as he spreads the picnic mat on the grass and put the box of foods down. He smiles at Niall’s beautiful smile as the Irish lad stares at the surroundings breathtakingly. 

 

“I love it!” Niall says as he sits beside Zayn on the mat and grins widely. He doesn’t expect Zayn to bring him for a picnic as an idea for a first date. It is nice and different and surprisingly, Niall likes it. 

 

Zayn smiles and they start to chat randomly and end up with sitting at the edge of the lake, feeding off the ducks. Niall feels so calm and feels like he can talk to Zayn about anything because somehow, Zayn listens, like really listens and always come out with intelligent or inspirational remarks here and there. For Niall, it’s refreshing and he loves it. 

 

When the sun sets, Zayn guides Niall to the other end of the park, with his the blindfolds on his eyes and Niall couldn’t help but feels nervous but excited. 

 

“Where are you taking me?” Niall asks for umphteen times and Zayn who is leading him by the arms, chuckles at Niall’s impatience tone. 

 

“You’ll see. Just a few steps ahead.” Zayn says. 

 

Niall nods and follows Zayn’s lead before suddenly they stop walking. He feels Zayn’s hand releasing the blindfolds and Niall blinks his eyes rapidly as soon as he sees the scene in front of him. 

 

“Zayn?..” Niall trails off questioningly as he looks at Zayn with wide eyes. How could he not? Because in front of him, there is a big projector, with a mat and couple of pillows, including plate of foods and snacks and Niall couldn’t help but feeling confused. When does Zayn finds the time to prepare for all of those things? 

 

Zayn laughs and shakes his head as he goes to sit on the mat and motions Niall to sits beside him. “Well, a couple of my friends helped to set this up and all I have to do is bribe them with comics.” Zayn explains and Niall laughs out loud. Only Zayn. 

 

“So, is this like our private cinema?” Niall asks and Zayn grins, nodding as he replies Niall’s question. 

 

“Come here.” Zayn tells Niall as he opens his right arm for Niall to cuddle in and his left arm is holding the remote. Niall obliges and goes into Zayn’s open arms and lay his head on Zayn’s chest. It warms and nice when Zayn wraps his arms protectively around Niall. 

 

“What are we going to watch?” Niall asks as the monitor starts to play the movie. 

 

Zayn smiles as he leans down to kiss Niall’s forehead gently. “The Notebook.” 

 

**

 

“So, what’s the verdict?” Harry asks as he sits with Niall and Liam at the living room, watching some movies absentmindedly. Liam drops by their house to hang out and Niall snorts at that excuse because he knows Liam is dropping by to hear the latest gossip about his dates. 

 

“I don’t know.” Niall says. Harry and Liam stares at him blankly and Niall continues. “I mean, both of them are so different but I like spending time with both of them.” Niall admits. Well, who could blame him? Both Louis and Zayn have their own ways to make Niall happy and he feels gutted that he has to choose one of them. How does he ends up with this situation? 

 

Liam leans closer to Niall and pats his bestfriend’s arms gently. “What does your heart says, Ni?” 

 

Niall blinks his eyes rapidly at Liam’s questions and shrugs. “I don’t know. I really don’t.” Niall sighs and his body slumps towards the couch and he stares at the ceiling. His eyes wonder around his living room before it lands on one of the pictures that is hanging on the wall. It’s the picture of him and Adam on the beach and both of them have big smiles on their faces. Niall smiles at the sight. He loves it when Adam is happy. “I think I’m going to see which one of them is better with Adam.” Niall says, replying Liam’s question. 

 

**

 

Louis smiles to himself as he replies at one of Niall’s text. He likes Niall. Everything about Niall intrigues Louis especially by the way Niall is showing his love to his son. Louis doesn’t get the whole story yet on how does Niall becomes a father at such a young age but he hopes he will know about it later on. 

 

“Vas happenin!!” Louis turns his head to look at the voice of his housemate also known as his best friend. “Zayn, don’t you think it’s kind of old to use that anymore?” Louis deadpans at Zayn’s way of greeting. It used to be Zayn’s trademark when they entered the college but Louis doesn’t know that it will stick until they had graduated.

 

Zayn skips happily from the door and plops down besides Louis, totally ignoring Louis’s insult. “Well, it’s my trademark.” Zayn grins. “So, what’s up? We haven’t talk much this week, huh?” Zayn points up. It’s because Louis works at the morning and Zayn works later than that and both of them usually ends up crashing on the bed after work. 

 

“Well, I met this guy..” Louis starts and grins widely. Zayn’s eyes go wide as he looks at Louis excitedly. “Really? Who is he? Is he cute? Since when?” Zayn asks quickly. 

 

Louis laughs out loud at his friend’s tone. “God, Zayn, gossipers much?” Louis teases before he continues. “He’s the father of one of my students. He’s nice. Just met him couple of   
weeks ago but I think I’m starting to fall in love..” Louis admits, his cheeks feel hot with the blood and mentally cursing himself for having that reaction in front of Zayn. 

 

“Auwwww..you’re blushing!” Zayn pinches Louis’s cheek and Louis swats Zayn’s hands away. It makes Zayn happy that Louis is able to love someone again after his ex-boyfriend, Stan. Zayn despised Stan so much for ruining Louis self-esteem not so long ago. 

 

“Well, enough about me. What about you? You seem so happy today.” Louis asks curiously. 

 

Zayn smiles widely as he looks at his bestfriend. “I’ve met a guy too. He went to my gallery to buy some art decors and I swear to god Louis, his eyes, caught my heart on the spot.” Zayn says dreamily. 

 

“Auuuwww..so sweet.” Louis singsongs as he grins widely at Zayn. 

 

“Yeah, well, I think I might be falling in love too.” Zayn admits and Louis takes the chance to pinch Zayn’s blushing cheek in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nouis or Ziall? :P


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is quite longer than usual, I guess?

“Daddy?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Why doesn’t I have mommy?” Adam asks. The question sounds so simple and innocence coming from the kid’s mouth but it makes Niall stops breathing for a second, literally. Liam and Harry who are engrossing at their menu stops talking as well and look at Niall’s pale face. 

Niall swallows thickly as he forces a smile, looking at his son. “Why do you ask, baby?”

“Because everyone at school has their moms but when they ask me, I tell them I only have a daddy and they laughed at me.” Adam says and looks at Niall, waiting for his dad to explain it to him. Niall feels his heart breaks and wraps Adam into his arms tightly. “I’m sorry, baby.” Niall says as his voice breaks slightly. 

“Adam, I’m going to the ice-cream parlor. Want to join me?” Liam offers suddenly and Adam leaps out from Niall’s arms and starts to follow Liam. Niall shoots Liam a grateful look and Liam nods and mouths ‘no problem.’

“You alright?” Harry asks as soon as Liam and Adam leave their diner booth. 

“Yeah, I just..” Niall says shakily and rubs his hands on his face before he sighs. “I know he’ll ask this question sooner or later but I was hoping for later cause I really don’t know how to explain it to him.” 

Harry pats Niall’s arm reassuringly, “Don’t worry, Ni. He’ll forget about it tomorrow. Why don’t you talk to Louis about this? At least Louis can watch out for him if the other kids laugh at him again.” Harry suggests. 

Niall shoots a small smile as he looks at Harry. “Thanks for the idea, Harry.”

**

“Hey babe, what’s up?” Louis asks as soon as he sits in front of Niall. Niall doesn’t look like his usual happy self and Louis admits that he doesn’t like to see a frown that plastered across Niall’s face at the moment. 

“It’s about Adam.” Niall replies. 

“What’s wrong? Is he okay? He seemed fine this morning.” Louis asks, worried. 

Niall smiles fondly at Louis’s concerned tone. Niall shakes his head before he starts to speak again. “He’s okay. I’m sorry, let me rephrase. It’s about Adam’s mom.”

“Oh.” Is all that Louis can response at the moment. 

“Adam told me that the kids at his school laughed at him because he doesn’t have a mum like they do.” Niall says. 

“Really? Why am I not aware of that?” Louis sighs, as it feels like it is his fault that he doesn’t protect Adam. 

“It’s not your fault. They’re just kids. Kids have an honest way to express their curiosity more than us. But I don’t want Adam to feel sad about it. Can you at least please keep an eye of him for me after this?” Niall asks for Louis’s favor. 

Louis nods and smiles. “Always.” 

Niall smiles back at Louis gratefully. “Thanks, Lou. You have no idea how I really appreciate that.” 

Louis stares at Niall’s smile before he blurts out the question. “What happened to Adam’s mum, Ni?” As soon as the question left his mouth, Louis feels like smacking his head because he and his big mouth always got him into trouble. And by looking at the faltered smile of Niall, Louis knows he had asked the wrong question. 

“Do you really want to know about that, Lou? Cause I don’t think you’ll be fond of me after that.” Niall says. 

Louis swallows nervously but smiles nonetheless. “Nothing can make me feel less fond of you, Ni.” Louis says with a convincing tone. 

Niall falls silence for a moment before he speaks up again. “Well..I was 15..” 

 

**flashback**

Niall was fifteen when he met Holly. Being an Irish, Niall was introduced to pints long before anyone else in another country can even spell it correctly. So when his schoolmate invited the football team to their victory party, they were halfway drunk not even before 10 pm. Niall’s mind was buzzing with the alcohol and laughs and didn’t even realize that he had slept with the girl, Holly. He only realized that he had done that when he woke up on someone’s bed and Holly was beside him, both were completely naked and when their eyes met, they knew what had happened. “Fuck.” Was all that they said to each other at the moment, ironically they did fuck each other. Since they were both drunk, they decided to forget about that night and they never came across each other’s path again because luckily, Holly didn’t even went to the same school as Niall. 

Unfortunately, Niall was destined to meet her again when Holly came one day, crying at Niall’s front porch, claiming that she was pregnant with Niall’s child. “Are you sure?” Niall asked after he can finally breathe when she announced the big news. “Of course I am! Who do you think I am? A slut?” She screamed at Niall with tears flowing and Niall shook his head frantically. He would never ever think that about the girl. He was just shocked. 

They went to the doctor to confirm with the pregnancy and by the doctor’s calculation; Niall knew that it was indeed his child that Holly was carrying. So they both decided to tell Holly’s parents but they kicked her out, making her begged and cried at her knees but both of them didn’t even looked at her when they closed the front door. Niall felt his heart broke at the scene and he had to pick up Holly from the ground and led her to his house. 

“Mom, dad. This is Holly. She’s pregnant with my child.” Niall said with an autopilot mode, because honestly he didn’t know what to do at the moment besides telling the news to his parents. To say that Bobby and Maura were mad was an understatement. They were cursing and shouting at Niall for being so irresponsible and Niall even flinched at their harsh words but he knew he deserved it. But when Holly was suddenly sobbing beside him, his parents stopped and looked at the small, fragile girl beside their son and Niall can see that they were softened by the sight of Holly. 

It took a few days but Bobby and Maura finally decided that Holly can stay with them. Maura treated Holly like a daughter that she never had and Niall was grateful that he didn’t have to deal with her alone. He was fifteen for God’s sake, how was he supposed to know how to take care a pregnant girl by himself?

But the thing was, Holly was so caught up with her depression of having been thrown out by her parents and all of her friends abandoned her that she didn’t even care about her pregnancy. Niall tried to talk to her, tried to apologize but she was still the same. Then when the baby was born, Holly died due to lack of malnutrition and part of Niall felt blamed himself for not being good enough to take care of her. 

However, he refused to wallow in his self-pity because he had the baby and he swore to take care of his son with all his heart. Niall managed to graduate high school and his best friend, Harry, offered him a place in London and Niall decided to try and moved there with his son to start a new life. 

 

**end of flashback** 

 

“So that’s how I ended up with the little café.” Niall finishes. “Like I said, it was partly my fault that I ended up making a girl pregnant with my child eventhough I was gay and still am. But I don’t ever regret any second of having Adam in my life.” 

They both fall into silence after Niall finishes with his story before Louis reaches for Niall’s hand and take it into his own hands. “Don’t blame yourself. You’re such an amazing guy, Niall. Nobody can be more responsible as you. Being so young and accepted the dad’s roles even when you were not ready to.”

“But, that’s the problem. Adam doesn’t have mom. He only has me as a dad. And I’m gay. I couldn’t give him a mommy like other kids has.” Niall says as he blinks back his tears. 

Louis smiles softly and shifts to sit beside Niall and pulls the younger lad into his arms. “You don’t need a woman to be a mom to Adam, Ni. You’re both his dad and mom. I can see how much you love and care for him and I think that’s more than enough that both of parents can give to him.”

Niall nods gratefully. “Thanks, Lou.” 

**

Zayn enters the café with a wander eyes as he notices Niall is nowhere to be seen. There is a curly haired guy behind the counter and Zayn thought he looks familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on who the guy is. Zayn takes a seat at one of the booths and studies the menu before a small kid approaches him. 

“You have a nice hair.” The kid says and Zayn laughs. The kid is most probably referring to his blonde-streak quiff. “Thanks, you have a nice hair too.” Zayn replies, making the kid smiles widely. 

“Really?” The kid squeals excitedly. “My dad did it for me.” He continues as he points out at his little Mohawk. 

“Your dad must be the best dad ever.” Zayn says. 

“Yes he is!” The kid exclaims proudly. He then takes a seat in front of Zayn and scatters some papers on the table. 

“What are these papers for?” Zayn asks as he smiles amusingly.

“Drawing.” The kid replies shortly and Zayn smiles fondly at the mess of drawings on the paper. “What’s that?” Zayn points to the lines on one of the papers. 

“That’s my dad.” The kid says as he points to the line with a blue circle around it. “That’s uncle Harry, uncle Liam and aunty Danielle.” The kid continues as he points at the other lines. 

Zayn chuckles softly and ruffles the kid’s hair. “Can I draw too?” He asks and the kid nods, giving Zayn a paper and a pencil. Zayn doodles for a minute and shows it to the kid when he finishes. 

The kid’s face lights up when he sees Zayn’s doodles. “Wow! This is so nice!” The kid exclaims in a loud voice. “Daddy!!” He yells. 

“Adam! I told you to not yell around!” Zayn snaps his head to look at the owner of the voice behind him. He knows the voice and accent too well. When his brown eyes catch the blue ones that belong to Niall, Zayn looks at him questioningly. “Niall?” 

Zayn sees Niall’s eyes go wide and he stops dead on his track. “Zayn? What are you doing here?” 

Zayn is about to reply but he is cut off when the kid leaps out from his seat and skips excitedly towards Niall. “Daddy! He draws me this! Is it great?” The kid, Adam as Zayn heard Niall called him, asks excitedly. Niall takes a look at the drawing and smiles. “Yes, it’s good, Adam.” 

Zayn looks back and forth between Niall and Adam and now he can see the resemblance. The eyes. The hair. Even the chatter personality, everything in Adam reminds him of Niall. Niall seems to understand his confusion because then Niall starts to talk, staring at Zayn. “Zayn, meet Adam, my son.”


	9. Chapter 9

Niall swallows nervously as he takes a seat in front of Zayn. After he saw the surprised look on Zayn’s face, he knew he has to explain everything to Zayn. So he sent Adam to Harry to take care of and both Niall and Zayn are now sitting in front of each other, with Niall struggling to start the conversation. 

“So, you have a son.” Zayn starts instead of Niall. His voice doesn’t seem upset or anything and Niall feels relief for that. 

Niall nods before he replies. “Yeah. Had him when I was 16. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, Zayn. I just..I didn’t know how to..” Niall explains. 

They fall into silence for a moment and Niall tries to read the emotion across Zayn’s face but his face seems indifference. Niall doesn’t know what to do so he starts to speak up again. “Are you mad?” He asks Zayn. 

Zayn shakes his head. “I’m not mad. I’m just…surprised?” Zayn’s reply comes out more as a question. “I mean…you’re so young..” Zayn stammers. 

Niall nods and smiles slightly. “Yeah, been received that comment over and over again. So I screwed up, so what, is that a sin nowadays to be a father at such a young age?” Niall asks, quite defensive. 

Zayn sighs and shakes his head. He let his eyes linger to the other side of the café where his eyes land on Adam and Harry. Yes, he finally realized that is Harry Styles, the famous superstar and he doesn’t even know that Niall is bestfriend with him. But that doesn’t matter at the moment because what matter is the small kid, who is happened to be Niall’s son. 

Zayn then looks at Niall again and finally he smiles at the nervous lad in front of him. He knows he is supposed to be mad at Niall for hiding the fact that he has a son from him, but part of him understands why. They are just getting close and it may feel personal to Niall to tell a practically stranger about his life, yet. 

“It’s okay, Niall. I’m not mad. In fact, you look cuter being a dad to Adam. Plus, I can give Adam some drawing lessons later, yeah? Cause I know for the fact that he really doesn’t inherit drawing talent from you.” Zayn teases and Niall laughs out loud. That is the laugh that made Zayn fell for Niall for the first time and Zayn intends to keep it that way. 

 

**

 

“What’s up, mate? You’re quiet.” Zayn says, glancing at Louis as they watch the movie at the living room of their shared house. 

Louis shrugs and shakes his head. “I’m always quiet.” He replies shortly. 

Zayn snorts at that and throws a pillow at Louis, making the other lad yelps. “You’ve never been quiet! It’d be an eighth world wonders if _Louis_ and _quiet_ falls into the same sentence.” 

Louis throws the pillow back at Zayn and crosses his arms over his chest, pouting over Zayn’s comment. Yeah, well, he knows he is not known as the quiet one, but can't he be like that once in a while? Of course, Zayn doesn’t accept that. 

“Tell me, what’s wrong?” Zayn asks softly as he leans closer to Louis and wraps his arms around his bestfriend. Louis puts his head on Zayn’s shoulder and sighs. 

“I think..I’m in love.” Louis mumbles. 

Zayn raises his eyebrows. “What? I can’t quite hear you.” He says. 

Louis rolls his eyes. “I think, I’m madly in love.” Louis says, louder this time and Zayn almost chokes on his own breathe. 

“Seriously? With the guy that you told me before?” Zayn asks. 

Louis nods. “Yeah..” He says and plays with the string of his hoodie. “But I don’t know if he has the same feeling as me too…” Louis sighs. 

Zayn wraps his arms tighter around Louis and pecks on Louis’s hair. “Whoever doesn’t love you is an idiot.” He says confidently. 

“But..before..” Louis stammers sadly. 

Zayn shakes his head and pulls Louis away from his arms and tilts Louis’s chin to look at him properly. “Look, _before_ was an idiot and a douche. He didn’t deserve you. Now if you feel like this towards this new guy, there must be something special about him, right?” Zayn assures and when Louis nods, he continues again. “Trust me. I can see this guy makes you happier lately and I’m quite mad that you haven’t even introduced us but that’s by the by. What’s important now is, tell the guy on how you feel and ask him to be your boyfriend.” Zayn suggests. 

Louis’s eyes go wide at Zayn’s suggestion. “I can’t…I mean..” He stutters. “..Do you think I can do that?” He asks unsurely. “I mean, do you think that he’ll love me back?” 

Zayn nods his head firmly. “Of course he loves you. Who doesn’t love Louis the-tommo Tomlinson?” Zayn says and Louis chuckles. 

Louis can feel some of his confidence lifts up at Zayn’s assurance and he smiles at his bestfriend. “Thanks, Zayn. For always being a good friend for me.” He says thankfully. 

“Yeah yeah. No need to go chick flick moment on me.” Zayn waves his arms dismissively but Louis knows Zayn can’t really handle the sappy moment because frankly Zayn is a big teddy bear which hides behind his bad-boy appearance. So what Louis can do at the moment is to hug Zayn tightly and both of them laugh together. 

 

**

 

“Wow, you made all this for me?” Niall gasps in surprise as he looks at the dining table. 

“Well, technically, yes.” Louis replies, grinning as he looks at the wide smile that plastered on Niall’s face. 

“Technically?” Niall asks as he raises his eyebrows confusingly. 

“I cooked all of these, yeah. But my housemate also helped me with the recipes. He’s just better at this than me.” Louis admits sheepishly. 

Niall chuckles and shakes his head fondly at Louis’s honest admission. “So, where is your infamous housemate now?” Niall asks. 

“Out. Something about giving me privacy for my date tonight.” Louis replies, battling his eyelashes at Niall and the Irish lad laughs out loud again at Louis’s ridiculous attitude. 

Then end up eating all the foods (Niall, mostly) and decides to watch a movie together. It may sound boring to others but to both of them, the time spent with each other is what they are cherished for. And when the credits are rolling, Louis takes a deep breath before he turns to look at Niall. He doesn’t have a grand gesture to mark the moment but he knows Niall is not the kind of guy who demands all of that. 

“Niall..” Louis calls for Niall’s attention and the blonde-haired lad turns his head to look at Louis. 

“Yes?” Niall says, staring at Louis confusingly. 

“I know we’ve only known each other for a short time but I admit that I really really like you. And I really really like your eyes, your smile, even your appetite. Because watching you eat happily is like watching a sun shines and the way your eyes crinkle when you smile and..” 

“Louis!” Niall cut Louis off as he laughs at Louis’s rants. “Get to the point, please.” Niall says between his laughs. 

Louis stops with his mouth hangs open and he blushes furiously. Stupid him and his nervousness that makes Niall double in laughter instead. 

“Niall! Will you be my boyfriend?!” Louis raises his voice to surpass Niall’s loud laughter. That seems to shut Niall up and his eyes go wide as he looks at Louis. 

“Whaatt….” Niall stutters in surprise. 

“I’m sorry. I said, will you be my boyfriend?” Louis tries again. To be damned with the romantic song or movie or anything related to romantic because for once, Louis wants to chase on what he wants and he doesn’t need any props for that. Just his heart is needed to be honest. 

“I…” Niall hesitates. Louis has really caught him by surprised. He knows he likes Louis too. He is just..in doubt? Niall mentally asks himself. But when he looks at Louis’s hopeful’s face, he knows he has to follow his gut. And at the moment, his guts can only points out a single answer. “Yes.” Niall finally replies and Louis dances his victory at the living room.


	10. Chapter 10

“Hey you!” Niall snaps his head towards the voice who greets him and he couldn’t help but mentally slaps himself. How could he forget about Zayn? 

“Hi.” Niall replies shortly. 

“So, busy day today,huh?” Zayn asks as he looks around the almost full house café. 

Niall nods and about to reply when suddenly Zayn speaks up again. “You’re up for another date with me?” Zayn asks. 

Niall feels his heart drops as soon as the question left Zayn’s lips and he sighs loudly. “I’m sorry, Zayn. I can’t..” 

“No, not now. I understand you’re busy now. I just drop by for a while to ask you that.” Zayn says bluntly and Niall shakes his head regretfully. He likes Zayn. But his heart knows that he likes Zayn but it is not the same with how he _likes_ Louis. 

“Zayn, I can’t. Not now. Not ever.” Niall says. 

Zayn’s smile turns into a frown after he realizes on what Niall had implied and nods his head. “Oh. It’s okay.” Zayn says dejectedly. 

Sensing Zayn misunderstood his reaction, Niall quickly speaks up. “You’re good guy, Zayn. I’m sure there’s a better person than me out there for you. Plus, I’m kind of having a boyfriend at the moment.” Niall says, frankly. 

Zayn’s eyes go wide and Niall flinches back at the glare that Zayn is giving him at the moment. “You didn’t tell me you have a boyfriend before!” Zayn hisses angrily. “Did you lie to me?” 

Niall shakes his head frantically. “No! I just..we just got together couple of days before..I didn’t lie to you, Zayn.” Niall says. 

Zayn, who is still angry, starts to walk away and Niall quickly follows him. “Zayn, wait, look, I’m sorry.” Niall calls out, trying to apologize to Zayn but Zayn is having none of it. He doesn’t even turns to look at Niall and Niall can only watch as Zayn walks to the other side of the road with his angry stride. 

 

**

 

Louis jumps slightly at the loud sound that coming from the front door and he peeks out from the kitchen to find his housemate, walking angrily towards his bedroom. It takes another second before the second door of the house is slammed too. Louis raises his eyebrows. Zayn rarely got mad recently and by the look of Zayn’s face today, Louis knows something is wrong. _Very_ wrong. 

Louis waits for about half an hour before he tiptoes his way to Zayn’s room and knocks the door. “Can I come in?” Louis asks and he can only hear a muffle from inside the room but he takes it as an invitation for him to go inside. 

“Zayn? Are you alright?” Louis asks as soon as he sits at the edge of Zayn’s bed, watching his best friend lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling, or more accurately, _glaring_ at the innocent ceiling. 

“He’s got a boyfriend.” Zayn starts after few moments of silence. 

“Who?” Louis asks, confusingly because he doesn’t know what the hell is Zayn talking about at the moment. 

“The guy that I told you about.” Zayn replies. 

“ _Oh._ ” Louis gapes. Because what else can he does? “Sorry to hear that, Zayn.” He adds. 

“I’m beyond mad, you know? He kinds of led me on and then he fucking told me that he have a boyfriend already!” Zayn says angrily. 

Louis sighs and shifts to sit closer to Zayn and pats his bestfriend’s arms gently. “It’s okay, Zayn. You’ll find someone better.” Louis assures and smiles at Zayn. 

Zayn shrugs carelessly. He then tilts his head to look at Louis. “What if I won’t find someone better?” Zayn asks. 

Louis shakes his head firmly and leans in to hug Zayn. They may hug in an awkward position but the message is clear between them. “You will! And you can! Because you’re Zayn Malik. Who wouldn’t fall for your cheekbones and long eyelashes?” Louis states gently and he smiles in triumph when Zayn chuckles. 

“You won’t.” Zayn replies. 

“Yeah, well. I’m immune to your charms.” Louis deadpans. Then both of them start to talk randomly. Well, it is actually Louis who talks the most and Zayn listens but eventually Zayn is feeling calm and he smiles gratefully at Louis. “Thanks, Lou. You’re a great friend.” 

 

**

 

“Have you even tried to talk to him again?” Liam asks his miserable best friend who is putting his head down on the table, between his arms. 

Niall tilts his head up slightly and nods. “I did. I went to his gallery to apologize but he totally shut me off like the other day. I told him I didn’t mean to lead him on but he refused to hear.” Niall replies. “I feel like a bad person.” He adds. 

Liam shakes his head and smiles. “You’re not a bad person, Ni. You were just trying to choose between both of them. It wasn’t entirely your fault. I mean, it’s our fault too for encouraging you to date both of them.” 

Niall just groans and sighs again. He really feels bad about the whole situation. Zayn is a good person and Niall really respect him. To know that Zayn might hate him after this, makes Niall feel bad about himself. 

“Ni…don’t be like this. Aren’t you happy now that you’re dating Louis?” Liam teases and he laughs when Niall’s cheeks rapidly goes red. 

“I am.” Niall admits quietly. He mentally curses himself for blushing in front of Liam and making his bestfriend laughs at his expense. 

“So, just enjoy your new phase of life. Don’t worry about Zayn. He’ll come around.” Liam assures. 

“You don’t know that.” Niall says. 

Liam smiles and ruffles Niall’s hair fondly. “I think I know that. He seems like the type of guy who has a great heart despite his appearance. You guys make a good team for friends. Harry and I always talk about you guys like that.” Liam admits. 

“You guys talk about _me_????” Niall whines as he swats away Liam’s hand from his hair. 

Liam laughs. “Of course. What do you expect? It’s been a while since you’re active in the dating game. And when you have two guys chasing after you, both of us couldn’t help but to compare them.” 

“Compare?” Niall asks confusingly. 

“Yeah. And from our observation, we can see that Louis is the kind of guy that most probably ends up as your boyfriend and Zayn, let’s just say he is the kind of guy who you’d end up as a best friend only.” Liam explains. 

Niall rolls his eyes at Liam’s explanation. Why his two best friends are always gossiping like teenage girls? Sometimes he wonders why he is the gay one in their three-musketeer-gang. 

 

** 

 

“So, I’m finally meeting your housemate today?” Niall asks when they finish with their dinner. 

Louis nods and smiles. “Yeah. I asked him to join us earlier but he had something to do. Now, he’s on his way already.” Louis says as he looks behind Niall and waves at someone. “Here he is.” Louis announces. 

Niall turns his head to look and he couldn’t be more surprised and he knows the guy is surprised like he does too. 

“Zayn?” “Niall?” Both of them say at the same time. 

Louis looks back and forth between both of them. “You guys know each other?” He asks, confusingly as he looks at the shocked face of Niall and angry face of Zayn. Without any warning, Zayn turns and starts to walk out from the restaurant. 

“Zayn, wait!” Louis calls out and follows Zayn as Niall is left alone with Adam. He then pulls out his wallet and put couple of notes on the table and grabs Adam’s hand. “Come on.” He says and jogs after Zayn and Louis.

“I didn’t know it was the same guy!” Niall hears as soon as he reaches Zayn and Louis who are apparently starts to argue at the side of the road. 

“Well, now you know!” Zayn says, raising his voice slightly. 

Niall shakes his head at both of them. How come..how in the hell that all of these get messed up? How could he not know that Zayn is Louis’s housemate? What kind of game that God is trying to play with him? “Guys, calm down.” Niall tries to pipe in. 

“Don’t try to tell me what to do!” Zayn snaps. 

“Hey, don’t be unfair. He’s not to blame in any of this.” Louis says, defending Niall. 

“Yes he is! He led me on! And then he said he got a boyfriend and..you…you are his boyfriend..”Zayn states accusingly. 

“Zayn, I’m sorry. I didn’t know..” Louis says, tries to apologize. 

Zayn shakes his head and snorts. “Fuck you. Fuck both of you.” He curses loudly.

“Please stop fighting, guys. This is just a misunderstanding. And please, stop cursing! Adam will hear you.” Niall warns, glaring at Zayn. It doesn’t matter if anyone wants to curse, hell even he himself curses like a sailor but nobody is allowed to corrupt his son. He looks down to see Adam only to find that his son is gone. Niall looks around and his heart is about to stop when his eyes catch the sight of his son at the middle of the road. There is a car coming towards his son and Niall screams in horror. “Adam!!!!!”


	11. Chapter 11

Niall doesn’t even think twice before he takes off running towards the middle of the road and manages to pull Adam from getting hit by the fast car. Both of them fall down on the sidewalk and the car swerves and honks loudly. 

Niall clutches the tiny body in front of him tightly. “Adam, baby are you okay?” He asks his son and starts to inspect for any injuries on his son’s body. He shifts to kneel in front of Adam and looks at his son properly. 

“Daddy…” Adam says and crying softly because of the shock. Niall hugs his son and pats his back soothingly. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” That’s Niall’s mantra as he holds Adam close to himself. 

“Niall! Oh my God. Are you okay?” Louis asks as he helps Niall to sit properly and inspects the slight gash on Niall’s arms and his ripped sweatshirt. 

“I’m fine. Just, just check on Adam, please.” Niall requests quietly and Louis nods, shifting to take Adam from Niall’s arms and starts to check on Adam for any hidden injuries. 

Zayn crouches besides Niall and looks at the shaken face of Niall in front of him. “Shit, Niall. I’m so sorry.” He apologizes to Niall. He feels like he is the one to blame for the accident that almost happened. 

Niall shakes his head as he pulls out his cellphone and gives it to Zayn. “Can you just..please call Harry and Liam for me?” Niall asks and wraps his arms around himself. He feels so cold suddenly and the lack of Adam in his arms makes his teeth chattering.

Zayn who is in lost on what to do, nods and starts to scroll down Niall’s phone for Harry’s name. It takes a second ring before Harry picks up and Zayn tells him to come to where they are at the moment. As Zayn finishes the call and turns around to look back at Niall, he feels his heart drops at the sight of vulnerable Niall sitting at the side of the road. He quickly pulls off his jacket and wraps it around Niall who is remains silent. “I’m sorry.” Zayn apologizes, again. 

 

**

 

“What happened?” Harry asks in panic as soon as he sees the state that Niall and Adam are in. Niall is sitting on the curb of the road with Adam is clinging tightly on his father. 

“Adam almost got hit by a car and Niall managed to save him with a minor injury but I think he’s in shock.” Louis says helplessly. He feels useless as he doesn’t know what to do. Niall hasn’t even spoken a word to him and Zayn is still mad at him, he guesses. 

Harry nods after Louis finishes and walks towards his bestfriend and crouches down in front of Niall. “Niall, let us get you and Adam back home, okay?” Harry says softly as he stares at Niall’s glassy eyes. He knows Niall is in state of shock. Harry helps Niall to stand up and Liam picks up Adam from Niall’s arm.

“You okay?” Harry asks as soon as both of them stands up and Harry wraps one of his arms around Niall’s waist, guiding him towards the car.

“I’m fine.” Niall replies quietly but Harry knows Niall is not fine. There are droplets of bloods near Niall’s elbow and Harry can feel Niall leans heavily on him.

“You’re shaking, Ni.” Harry says worriedly. “Don’t you want to go to the doctor?” Harry tries again and Niall shakes his head stubbornly. 

“Take me home, please. I just want to go home.” Niall begs as he looks at Harry and Harry nods reluctantly. 

 

** 

 

Once they arrive home, Harry nods to Liam to carry Adam to his bedroom and Liam nods back, still carrying the sleeping kid in his arms. “Take care of him.” Liam mumbles quietly to Harry.

Harry leads Niall to his bedroom and heading straight to the toilet, and he lets Niall sits on the toilet bowl’s lid. Niall is still silent and Harry knows his bestfriend is thinking about the incident earlier. He proceeds with the first aid kit box and quietly bandages Niall’s injured arm. When he finishes, he looks up only to find Niall cries silently and Harry feels his heart breaks. 

“Niall..” Harry calls softly, at loss on what to do to comfort Niall.

“The car..the car almost hit him Harry..in front of my own eyes..I just..I couldn’t..how could I..I was so busy with my own life that I didn’t care about adam..I just..” Niall chokes on his sobs and Harry wraps Niall in a hug.

“It wasn’t your fault..” Harry whispers to Niall.

“It was..I’m not a good father..I can’t even take care of my own child..” Niall says dejectedly. 

Harry shakes his head. “Yes, you can take care of him, Ni. You just caught up for a moment.” He says firmly.

They remain silence for a few seconds and only Niall’s sniffs can be heard. “I don’t want to anymore. I don’t want to be in this so called drama anymore..I give up..” Niall suddenly says.

“Niall, hey, hey.” Harry says as pulls away from the hug and tilts Niall’s chin with his hand so that he can look at Niall properly. “Look, we’ll talk about it tomorrow okay. This is not the right time to talk about this. You’re tired, let’s get you to sleep okay?” Harry says. He then stands up and pulls Niall with him and he helps guiding Niall towards his bed and let Niall lies down. Harry fusses with Niall’s blanket and tucks Niall in, smoothing some of the bangs on Niall’s forehead gently. 

“Get some sleep, okay?” Harry says and leans down to kiss Niall’s temple. Niall closes his eyes as Harry continues to stroke his hair and minutes later, Niall falls asleep. Harry sighs softly as he stares at the way Niall looks when he sleeps. Niall’s face looks younger when he sleeps and Harry couldn’t help but smiles at the innocence that lay across his bestfriend’s face. No wonder people always thought that Niall is younger than Harry himself. 

“How is he?” Harry turns to look at Liam who is tiptoeing his way to Harry’s side near Niall’s bed. 

“He’s still in shock, I guess. But I bandaged his cuts already. I just have to make sure that it won’t get any infection but it’s not a serious injury.” Harry explains quietly to Liam. Liam nods and stares at Niall too. They both watches as Niall shift in his sleep and pull up his comforter unconsciously, making himself sleeps in the cocoon. “Sometimes people always forget that Niall is just a kid. He’s only 21 years old for god’s sake.” Harry says. 

Liam sighs and nods. “I know.” They both know how Niall is forced to grow up before his age. Neither is regret that Adam had come into their life. He is a great kid. And Niall loves his son so much. They all do. But somehow, Liam and Harry both want Niall to be happy for his own too.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry opens the door of Niall’s bedroom and heads towards the bed, only to find it empty. “Niall?” Harry calls out but he gets no reply. He then walks to the bathroom and finds that Niall is not there either. He sighs contently as he finally realizes where Niall actually is. He gets out from the room and walks towards the room across Niall’s. He opens the door and smiles at the sight. Niall is lying with Adam on the bed, with his arms wraps protectively across his son’s body. 

Harry goes to Niall’s side and wakes his friend up. “Ni..” Harry calls out softly. When Niall doesn’t even stir, Harry tries again, louder than before. “Ni..” 

Niall seems to shift a little after that and groans. “What..” He mumbles sleepily and wraps his arms tighter around Adam. 

Harry shakes his head fondly at the cute display and slaps Niall’s arms gently. “Ni, Adam has school today, remember?” 

Niall’s eyes suddenly pops open widely. “Urgh!” Niall whines quietly. “Thanks for waking me up, Hazza.” Niall says as he starts to sit and stretches, waking up Adam gently after Harry left. He smiles a little when Adam swats his hands away and mumbling something unintelligently. It’s so like Niall himself to respond when someone wakes him up. It takes several minutes before Adam is wake up properly and Niall spends some times to prepare his son to the school. 

Harry puts down his cup of tea as soon as he sees Niall and Adam walk towards him at the kitchen stool. Both of them eats their breakfast happily (Harry prepared their favorite pancakes) and Harry even gets a big sloppy kiss on the cheek not only from Adam, but from Niall as well. They waves Harry on their way out and Harry waits until both of them shuts the door before he turns to continue reading the newspaper in front of him again. Few seconds later, Harry’s cellphone buzz and he frowns a little when he sees the name flashes on the screen. 

“Ni?” Harry says as soon as he picks up. 

“I need your help. Can you…hurm..can you drive us to the school?” Harry hears Niall asks sheepishly and he chuckles. “Of course, Ni.” 

 

**

 

“Hi, Mr. Lou!” Adam greets happily after he waves goodbye to Niall and Harry and Louis greets the kid back, pulling him into a tight hug. “How are you today?” Louis asks as Adam bounces energetically on his feet. 

“I’m good! I just ate a delicious pancake made by Uncle Harry!” He exclaims excitedly at Louis and before Louis can reply, Adam runs inside to meet his friends, leaving Louis with Niall and Harry. 

Louis watches as Adam leaves before he turns to look at Niall. “Ni. I’m sorry about last night.” Louis apologizes. Part of him feels guilty for being careless with Adam and he knows how protective of Niall towards his son and if anything happened to Adam the night before…Louis thought. 

“It’s fine. Not your fault anyway.” Niall says quickly. He then looks at his watch and speaks up again. “Sorry, got to get to work early today.” Niall announces and turns to walk to the car, leaving Louis and Harry alone. 

Harry watches as Louis’s face falls and shakes his head. “Don’t take it to the heart. He’s not mad. He’s just taking his priority for Adam too hard. He’ll come around. Just give him some time, yeah?” Harry assures and Louis nods. 

Louis watches as Harry waves from the driver’s seat and Niall doesn’t even glance at him. He waits until the car is lost from his sight before he drops his forced smile. “Loser Louis.” He mumbles to himself. Niall and he hasn’t even been an official item for a month yet he manages to screw it up. 

 

**

 

Zayn takes a deep breath before he enters the café entrance. He heads straight towards the front counter and greets the person behind it. “Hi.” He says and the guy looks up to see him. 

“Zayn? What are you doing here?” The guy asks. 

“Hi to you too, Liam.” Zayn says sarcastically. “I’m looking for Niall. Is he here?” Zayn asks. 

Liam nods and gestures to the backdoor. “He’s there.” Liam says. “Please don’t say anything that might hurt him.” He then warns Zayn and Zayn nods. 

“I won’t. I just want to apologize.” Zayn says before he walks to the back of the café. His eyes catch the sight of Niall organizing some of the cutleries and waits until Niall finishes before he decides to announce his presence. 

“Hi, Niall.” Zayn greets as soon as Niall turns around. 

Niall gasps in surprise. “Shit! Don’t scare me like that!” Niall says as he shakes his head and calms his racing heart because of the shock. 

Zayn chuckles. “Sorry. My bad.” 

Niall shrugs him off. “No big deal. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at your gallery?” 

“Yeah. Taking a break for a while. And I come here to apologize to you.” Zayn says, straight to the point. 

Niall nods and smiles slightly. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m the one who should apologize to you. I didn’t know that Louis is your bestfriend. And I’m sorry if you think I led you on before.” 

Zayn shakes his head and takes a step further towards Niall, standing in front of the smaller guy and puts both of his hands on Niall’s shoulder. “Look. I respect you choice. It hurts a bit, yes, I admit. But I know Louis is a good guy and you’re a good guy too. You two deserve each other if you’re making each other happy.” Zayn says sincerely, staring straight into Niall’s eyes. 

Niall, at loss on what to say just nods appreciatively. “Thanks, Zayn.” Niall says. “Please don’t be mad at Louis.” He continues. 

Zayn laughs and says. “Me? I’m afraid that he is the one who is mad at me at the moment.” 

“I don’t think so. Best friends can never stay mad at each other for too long, trust me.” Niall assures. 

“I don’t know, Niall. I love him. He’s a great friend.” Zayn admits and sighs slightly at the thought of not talking to Louis because of the things that happened. 

“Nah, Zayn. I’m sure he loves you too.” Niall says and leans forward to hug Zayn for comfort. 

 

**

 

“…..loves you too.” Louis hears Niall’s voice and he peeks through the door to see on whom is Niall talking too. His eyes goes wide as he sees Niall leans forward to hug zayn affectionately and Zayn returns the hug as well. The flowers in Louis’s hand drop to the ground and he turns around to walk away with a heavy heart.

Neither Niall nor Zayn notices that.


	13. Chapter 13

Louis changes the television channel for hundredth times before he throws the remote away on the couch and sighs again. It had been a week since he saw on what happened at the café and he didn’t know how to react to that. He thought he wanted to bring some gifts for Niall to amend on what had happened on the night with Adam. But it turned out, he had found out that Niall was more willing to get affectionate with Zayn rather than him. Because as far as he remembers, Niall didn’t even glance at him during the morning when he dropped Adam off at the school, but what was the deal with Zayn? Louis sighs again. He knows he is being a jealous prick but who wouldn’t? Zayn himself had told him that he was also in love with Niall (even when Louis didn’t know that they had fallen for the same guy, but now he knows, okay?). He sighs again as he lays down on the couch and stares at the ceiling. To make matter worse, Zayn had gone to the conference and Louis haven’t met him yet after he saw his bestfriend with Niall at the café. Louis is starting to fall asleep when suddenly his doorbell rings. His eyes snap open and he groans. He stands up lazily and heads towards the front door. And as soon as he opens the door, he swears his eyes bulge out in surprise.

“Stan?” Louis asks, shocked by the fact that Stanley is standing in front of his house, grinning widely and before he knows it, Stan pulls him into a tight hug. 

“Hi, Lou! It’s been a long time!” Stan greets excitedly and pulls away from the hug. 

Louis blinks his eyes rapidly and swallows. “Yeah. What are you doing here?” Louis asks because for all he knows, Stan had moved back to Doncaster the last time Louis had talked to him. 

“I have several things to do here in London but I need a place to crash for a night. Is it okay if I crash here?” Stan asks, looking at Louis hopefully and Louis, being the nice guy that he is, nods slowly. 

“Yeah, yeah. You can stay here if you want.” Louis replies. 

 

**

 

“So, how’s Lou nowadays?” Harry asks as soon as he sits on the couch and glances at Niall. He notices that Niall doesn’t mention Louis for quite a time and decides to ask his bestfriend about him finally, because he can’t stand looking at Niall moping around the house anymore. That’s when he decides to ask Niall about it, and of course Harry has to drag Liam into it too. 

“I don’t know. He doesn’t pick up his phone.” Niall says and shrugs. It’s not really Louis’s fault to be honest because Niall himself knows that he had given Louis a cold shoulder about the night with Adam but when he had calmed down enough, he decided to call Louis but the older guy doesn’t even reply to his texts, let alone calls. 

“Well, maybe he’s busy.” Harry says and glances at Liam, seeking for his friend’s help to cheer Niall up. 

“Maybe..” Niall trails off, unsurely. 

“What about Zayn?” Liam asks. “I thought the other day he came to meet you to apologize?” 

Niall smiles slightly and glances at Liam. “Yeah, he did. I apologized too. So, we’re okay now. He respects my choice and he loves Louis so much to sacrifice their friendship.” Niall explains. 

“That’s good of him.” Liam states. He has a feeling that Zayn is a nice guy after all. It is good to know that the guy doesn’t hold grudges against Niall or Louis. The way that Zayn values his friendship with Louis makes Liam’s heart warmth because he knows how much he values his friendship with Niall and Harry too. 

“Yeah..” Niall replies distractedly as he is still staring at his phone on his hand. The screen is still empty and no sign of missed calls or new texts appears from Louis. 

 

** 

 

Niall stands in front of Louis’s front door nervously. He looks back and sees Harry gives him two thumbs up from inside the car. The truth is, Harry and Liam had suggested to him to see Louis at his house already because God knows they can’t stand to see mopey-Niall around anymore. So with a little nudge from both of his bestfriends, he finally decided to come but he practically has to beg Harry to come with him because he feels nervous. Who would’ve thought that he would be nervous to see his own boyfriend? Yes, nobody. 

Niall knocks on the door once, twice. He waits for some time but no one seems to come to the door and Niall sighs. Maybe no one is home, Niall thought. He is about to turn back to the car when the door opens. Niall starts to smile but his smile drops when he sees someone other than Louis or Zayn opens the door. Louis doesn’t mention that he has other housemates except Zayn, does he? To make matters worse, the guy who is now standing in front of Niall just wearing a towel with his hair is still drapes wet. 

“Yes?” The guy asks, curiously. 

“Hurm..Hi. Is Louis home?” Niall asks unsurely. There is something about the guy that doesn’t seem right to him. 

“Lou! Someone’s here for you!” the guy yells, tilting his head back so that his voice can get across the house. 

“Who?” Niall hears Louis yells back. 

“I don’t know! Come faster Lou!”

“Wait up, babe!” Niall’s heart almost drops when Louis calls the guy ‘babe’. And to Niall’s horror, Louis adds his reply with, “Let me turn off the shower first and pulls on my pants!” 

Niall’s eyes go wide as realization suddenly hits him right into the gut. The guy in front of him was in the shower and Louis was in it too apparently. 

“Sorry, I’ll be back later. Sorry for interrupting.” Niall turns and runs towards Harry’s car. 

Stan raises his eyebrows and looks as the car goes away from his sight. 

“Who is it?” Louis asks as soon as he reaches the door and finds that no one is there except for Stan. “Stan?” 

Stan shrugs and closes the door. “I don’t know. Didn’t say his name, though.” 

Louis nods and shrugs carelessly. It was probably one of his student’s parents. 

 

**

 

Harry glances between the road and his bestfriend worriedly as he drives the car. He regrets that he was busy with his cellphone when suddenly Niall got inside the car and told him to drive away from Louis’s house quickly. If only he paid attention, he would’ve known on what had happened. 

Harry glances at Niall again and Niall is crying silently as he puts his head on the window without looking at Harry’s direction. 

“Ni, what happened? What did Louis do?” Harry asks again. 

“Nothing.” Niall replies shortly. He doesn’t want to talk to Harry about it and for God’s sake, can’t Harry just stop with the 20-questions already? 

“It’s not nothing! You’re crying for fuck sake! If you don’t tell me, I’ll turn this car around and ask him myself!” Harry threatens as he shakes his head at Niall’s stubborn attitude. 

That gets Niall’s attention as he finally turns his head to look at Harry. “Don’t! Just…just drive me away, Harry..” Niall begs with his tears-filled eyes and Harry sighs at the sight. He knows Niall will eventually talk to him about it and he doesn’t want to push it for now. So he does what he does best as Niall’s bestfriend. He nods and drives Niall away from Louis’s house, as Niall requested.


	14. Chapter 14

Zayn plops down on the couch and throws his bag on the floor tiredly. Who would’ve thought that going to art conference could be as tiring as this? Zayn thinks to himself as he closes his eyes and slumps into the couch. But it was fun though because Zayn had met some great artists and couldn’t wait to draw again. 

“Hey Zayn!” Zayn’s head snaps to turn to look at the sounds of the voice and frowns. 

“Stan, what are you doing here?” Zayn spats rudely. Because yeah, he hates Stan. 

Stan doesn’t seem to acknowledge Zayn’s hostility and shrugs, sitting down on the other couch beside Zayn. “Louis said I could crash here for a few days.” 

Zayn feels his blood boils in anger. “Louis did what?!” He yells. 

“What’s with the yelling?” Zayn then turns to look behind him to find Louis stands there, glaring at Zayn and Zayn raises his eyebrows. 

“What the hell, Lou? How could you let this prick stays here?” Zayn asks, his tone hard. 

“He needs a place to crash. And as far as I know, this is my place too, right?” Louis says without a care. 

Zayn who is now standing up, strides towards Louis and grabs his bestfriend’s arms, leading him to the kitchen, out of Stan’s hearing. 

“What the fuck, Lou? Have you forgotten what Stan did to you? What about Niall?” Zayn hissed angrily. 

“Well, it was in the past. Plus, what about Niall?” Louis sasses back and Zayn shakes his head. 

“Lou, have you forgotten what Stan did to you? To _me_?” Zayn asks. 

Louis feels something inside him snaps as soon as Zayn finishes. “Flashnews! The world doesn’t revolve around you, Zayn!” Louis snaps angrily. Both of them stares at each other for a while after that and Zayn waves his arms in frustration and storms off, leaving Louis, standing alone in the kitchen. 

 

**

 

Zayn takes his usual seat at the bar stool and waves his hand at the familiar faces in the café. It is known that this is his usual place after he met Niall and everyone seems to know each other after that. Zayn waits for a while before a familiar brown hair pops out from the kitchen’s door and heads straight towards Zayn. 

“Hey, Zayn.” Liam greets and Zayn nods his acknowledgement. “Drinks?” Liam asks and Zayn shakes his head. Liam frowns at Zayn’s lack of response and he can see something is bothering Zayn at the moment. 

“Niall’s not here?” Zayn asks. 

Liam shakes his head and starts to sit beside Zayn instead of standing in front of him. “He’s at home with Harry. Said he was feeling under the weather.” Liam explains. 

Zayn nods. “How is he?” 

Liam raises his eyebrows in confusion. “I thought I made it clear that he is not feeling well?” Liam says. But when Zayn looks at him straight into his eyes, Liam knows Zayn knows something is wrong. “Frankly, he is quite sad. Harry and I initially thought that was because Louis didn’t return his calls and all but when he went to your house to see Louis yesterday, he got sadder and we don’t know why.” 

Zayn, finally connecting the dots of what happened, nods. “Stan is at our house.” He says. 

“Stan?” Liam asks, confuse by the unfamiliar name. 

“Look, I don’t know if Louis ever talks about this to Niall but Stan is Louis’s ex.” Zayn says. “They were together since highschool so when I met Louis at the college, he was so in love with Stan and I didn’t mind at all. Then Stan always came to our place on weekend because he missed Louis. And sometimes we hung out together, three of us, you know. But then, Stan started to come when Louis wasn’t there. I thought it was okay and Louis also didn’t thought of anything. Except that Stan started to make a move on me. At first I thought I was delusional but suddenly he became more obvious. I tried to talk to Louis about it but Louis was in denial. And then one night, I was sleeping when I felt someone pinned me up on the bed. I was..” Zayn trails off. 

Liam, who is still loss at words, pats Zayn’s shoulder comfortingly. “Zayn, it’s okay.” Liam says. 

Zayn shakes his head and continues. “I was almost raped by Stan, Liam. I prayed to God that someone would save me at the moment but I didn’t want it to be Louis, you know. Turned out, God had a cruel way to show Louis on how Stan was not right for him. Louis managed to kick Stan out and I was mad at Stan. So mad because not only he managed to almost scarred me but he made Louis suffered.” Zayn says shakily. He smiles sadly at Liam. “Louis is a good friend. He pushed aside his feelings to help me at the time. But I know, Stan had left Louis feeling so low about himself. He always thought he was not good enough for anyone and he always had low self-esteem issues after that. I tried to help him, and it was until he met Niall, I noticed that he gained back some of his confidence. I can see how happy Louis is when he’s with Niall. And I really don’t want Stan to mess things up again. “ 

Liam nods understandingly after Zayn finishes. He knows it is not his place to tell Niall about all of Zayn’s revelation but Liam had a guess on what had happened yesterday when Niall went to see Louis. Liam has a feeling that this is all a big misunderstandings. 

 

**

 

Niall watches as Adam swings himself on the swing, laughing happily as he plays along with his friends. Niall smiles to himself proudly because Adam really turns out to be a cute-friendly kid that everyone loves and adores. He knows it’s not an easy job to raise Adam alone but he is grateful for the help and support that he gets from his family and his bestfriends. Niall pulls out his cellphone from his pocket and stares at the screen again. He knows he might be overreacted the other day but he couldn’t help but feels hurt when Louis doesn’t even make an effort to call or text him back. Niall sighs. Maybe he should only focus on Adam instead of the other things. 

“Daddy!” Niall’s head perks up immediately when he hears Adam cries for his name. Quickly, Niall runs towards his son who is on the ground, clutching his knees and cries. 

“What happened?” Niall asks as soon as he reaches Adam and kneels besides his son. 

“I fell from the wings.” Adam tells his dad and starts to sniffs again. 

Niall curses himself for even losing his attention to his son for a second and shakes his head. There is a cut on Adam’s knees and Niall knows it’s hurt because he knows Adam wouldn’t cry over nothing. Niall picks his son into his arms and brings him to the car. “We’re going to the clinic, okay?” He tells Adam and his son nods silently. 

 

**

 

“I’m sorry to ask, Mr. Horan. Is there any way to know if you’re abusive?” The doctor asks bluntly and Niall chokes on his breath. 

“What?” Niall exclaims, taken aback by the accusation by the doctor in front of him. Adam is still sitting silently and watches the not-so-quiet exchange between Niall and the doctor. 

The doctor, Mr. Smith as Niall reads his tag, then leads Niall to Adam and shows some small bruises on Adam’s spine. Niall gasps in surprise. How could he didn’t realize that before? 

“Adam, daddy wants to ask you something, okay?” Niall asks as he leans down to look at his son. “Did someone hit you at the school?” He asks Adam. 

Adam shakes his head. “No.” He replies shortly. Niall stares at his son and shakes his head again. He doesn’t even want to ask about someone abusing Adam at home because honestly, Harry wouldn’t even bat a mosquito, let alone being abusive to Adam. 

“Is that true?” Niall asks again. 

“Yes.” Adam nods firmly. 

“Pinky promise?” Niall tries again and Adam nods. “Pinky promise.” He replies to Niall. 

Niall nods, satisfy with Adam’s answer and stands up straight again to face the doctor. He can feel his heart beats rapidly because suddenly he is worried. The way the doctor frowns as he looks at Adam and the charts that he is holding in his hands, only making Niall’s worry grows.

“What is it?” Niall asks, suddenly afraid of the answer. 

The doctor looks at Niall and nods at him sympathetically. “I think you might need to take him to get check-up at the hospital.”


	15. Chapter 15

_

H: Do you want me to come there?

N: Nah, it’s ok. Just want to give you a head up :) 

H: Ok. I’d be at home. Talk to me later, yeah? :)

N: Ok. Thanks, Harry. 

_

 

Niall puts his cellphone into his pocket after he texts Harry and bites his nails nervously. He is now sitting at the hospital, waiting for the result after Adam’s check-up. He had taken Adam to the hospital after the doctor from the clinic suggested it to him. It takes three days before he can get the results and he had told Harry and Liam about it in between those days. Both of them reassured Niall that nothing is wrong and Niall really appreciates the effort but he couldn’t help but feels worried until he can finally know the result from the doctor himself. 

 

“Daddy, I’m sleepy.” Adam whines from the position he is in, his head on Niall’s shoulder and he is sitting on Niall’s lap sleepily. 

 

Niall tilts his head down to kiss Adam’s hair and wraps his left arm tighter around his son. “I know. Me too. But after we meet this doctor, we’re going home, yeah?” 

 

Adam nods and buries his head further into Niall’s shoulder. “Daddy, am I sick?” Adam asks suddenly and Niall’s head perks up immediately. 

 

“No. Why would you think that?” 

 

Adam pulls away from Niall a little and looks at his father. “Duh! We’re in the hospital. And you’re not sick.” Adam says as he rolls his eyes. 

 

Niall chuckles at his son’s attitude and ruffles Adam’s hair fondly. “Okay, smart kid. Yeah, we’re in the hospital. But we’re here because we want to know what the doctor has to say about your bruises that day. And I promise that you’re not sick.” Niall says and smiles at his son. Little does he knows, how wrong is he. 

 

**

 

“Mr. Horan?” Niall’s eyes snaps open when he hears the nurse is calling for his name. He then stands up, carrying Adam in his arms and follows the nurse’s lead. 

 

“Hi, Mr. Horan. I’m Doctor Keith. Please, have a seat.” The doctor greets as soon as Niall reaches his desk. Niall nods and takes a seat in front of the doctor.

 

“So, you’re Adam, yeah?” The doctor asks as he looks at the little kid besides Niall and Adam nods shyly. The doctor then looks at Niall. “Hurm, are we going to discuss this in front of him, or you want the nurse to take him somewhere else for a while?” He asks Niall. 

 

Niall feels his heart beats rapidly at the doctor’s question. He knows the doctor has a serious matter to tell him and he can feel that the doctor doesn’t want to break the news in front of Adam. “Adam, daddy has something to discuss with the doctor, you wait for daddy with nurse..” Niall says and turns to look at the nurse who is still standing at the door. “Eliza.” She finishes for Niall and Niall turns to look at Adam again. “Is that okay?” 

 

Adam looks back and forth at Niall and the nurse. “Why?” He asks. 

 

“Because your daddy and I might take a long time, sweetie. We don’t want to bore you.” Dr. Keith says gently and it takes a few seconds before Adam nods and leaps out from the chair. 

 

Niall hugs Adam before his son follows the nurse and he watches as Adam walks out of the door before he turns to look at the doctor again. He swallows nervously as he looks at the sympathetic smile that Dr. Keith is giving him at the moment. 

 

“You love him so much, yeah?” The doctor asks. 

 

Niall nods. “Of course. He’s my son. I love him with all my heart.” Niall states firmly. “What’s wrong with him?” He asks finally. 

 

Dr. Keith sighs and opens up the folder in front of him and leans closer to show Niall the results of Adam’s check-up few days ago. “I’m sorry, Mr. Horan. It turns out that your son has leukemia.” The doctor announces sympathetically. 

 

Niall is grateful that he is sitting because he can imagine how his knees will buckle when he heard what the doctor had said. “Oh my god…” Niall whispers brokenly. “Leukemia…” 

 

**

 

Harry turns his head sharply as soon as he hears the sound of the door being opened and closed. “Go take a nap first, okay. I’ll wake you up for dinner.” Harry hears Niall says to Adam. “Okay, daddy. I love you.” He hears Adam replies. “I love you too, baby.” Harry smiles when he hears the adorable exchange between the father and the son. 

 

Few seconds later, Harry hears Niall steps into the living room and Harry turns his head to look at Niall. As soon as he sees Niall’s face, he knows something is wrong. Niall’s lip quivers and his eyes is welled with tears as he looks at Harry, not moving from his position near the entrance of the living room. “Harry…” Niall starts quietly and Harry strides towards Niall in a flash, grabbing Niall into his hug and let Niall put his head on Harry’s shoulder. 

 

“What happened, Ni? What was the doctor said?” Harry asks, softly but worries laces in his tone. 

 

“He has leukemia, Haz. My son..my son has leukemia..” Niall whispered brokenly and starts to cry on Harry’s shoulder. Harry takes a sharp breathe, still too shock to response. He can feel his heart breaks as he imagines Adam, their precious little Adam is having something that they never ever think of. If he feels like this, he knows Niall is feeling so much worst. 

 

“It’s okay, Ni. We’ll fight this together, alright?” He assures Niall, wrapping his arms tighter around the smaller guy in front of him. 

 

“He’s already at the third stage…” Niall says between his sniffs. 

 

“They have great treatment nowadays, Ni. Don’t give up, yeah?” Harry says as he pulls away and puts his hands on Niall’s shoulder, staring at Niall’s face firmly. 

 

Niall nods slightly before he speaks up again. “How could I haven’t notice it sooner? What kind of father am I?” Niall says miserably as more tears roll down on his cheek when he looks at Harry. 

 

Harry shakes his head and pulls Niall into his arms again. “No, don’t go there, Ni. You’re a great father. This is the way God wants to put His test on you. Everything will be fine. Trust me, Adam is a strong kid and so are you.” Harry assures. He holds Niall as his bestfriend cries silently and Harry feels himself is crying too when he feels his shoulder wets with Niall’s tears. 

 

** 

 

“Oh my God.” Danielle gasps and buries her head on Liam’s shoulder as soon as they heard the news. Liam blinks his tears back as he stares at Harry. “Is that true?” he asks quietly.

 

Harry nods solemnly. “Unfortunately, it’s true. Niall told me to break the news to you guys because he doesn’t think that he can relive it all over again. He said it makes it too real when he speaks about it.” Harry explains. It took couple of hours before Harry can calm Niall down the day he broke the news at the house. 

 

“Where is he now?” Liam asks, referring to Niall’s whereabouts. 

 

“He has an appointment with the doctor, regarding the treatment and all.” Harry replies. Liam nods and rubs his face with his hands. “Does anyone else know?” He asks, looking at Harry. 

 

Harry shakes his head. “Not yet. I’ll let Niall to tell the others about it, I guess.”

 

Danielle pulls away from her husband and starts to wipe her tears away. She takes a deep breath before she speaks. “What can we do for him?” Danielle asks. 

 

“I don’t know. Just, be strong and be there for him. He’ll need us to survive this.” Harry says firmly. He knows Niall will survive this. He is one of the strongest persons that Harry has ever known in his whole life. 

 

Both Liam and Danielle nod and stares at Harry. “We’ll always be there for him.” Liam says.


	16. Chapter 16

“Have you seen Niall lately?” Zayn asks after few minutes of silence in front of the television. He just got back from the gallery when he saw Louis is watching the television, alone. Zayn decided to sit with Louis on the couch and had tried to talk to his friend but Louis doesn’t even glance at him. That’s when he decides to start the conversation instead. 

Louis ignores Zayn’s question and only shrugs as his reply. “What for?” He mumbles. 

Zayn snaps his head to look at Louis properly and frowns. “What for? Isn’t he your boyfriend? What kind of boyfriends don’t talk to each other for a long time?” 

Louis shrugs again and starts to fiddle with the channels on the television. He doesn’t even want to look at Zayn at the moment because honestly, he is still mad. “Whatever. It looks like he doesn’t think I’m his boyfriend after all. Maybe he just pitied me when I asked him to be my boyfriend.” Louis says. 

“Are you blind?” Zayn exclaims, shocked by Louis’s words. “He loves you, dumbass!” 

“Cut it off, Zayn. That’s not what I heard.” Louis retorts. 

“What do you mean by that?” Zayn asks as he looks at Louis confusingly. Why is Louis talking in riddles here? 

“Nothing.” Louis replied shortly. 

Zayn shakes his head and reach over the remote on Louis’s hand, snatching it away and turn off the television. Louis tries to grab the remote back but Zayn tosses it away under the couch and grabs Louis’s shoulder firmly, trying to get his bestfriend’s attention. 

“Look! I know you. There’s must be something wrong if you act like this. Tell me? Is this about Stan?” Zayn asks and Louis shakes his head. 

“So, enlighten me here, Louis. Why are you acting like this? And why are you being so mad at me?” 

Louis tries to pry away from Zayn’s firm grip but Zayn doesn’t seem to bulge. Louis shakes his head and glares at Zayn angrily because frankly, how come Zayn can act so oblivious about him and Niall? When Zayn doesn’t seem like he wants to let go of Louis soon, Louis finally snaps. 

“Look, I’m mad at you because of what happened at the café, alright?” Louis says sharply. 

Zayn raises his eyebrows confusingly. “Huh? What are you talking about?” 

“Don’t act stupid, Zayn.” Louis scoffs. “I heard what you and Niall had told you at the café.” 

“About me apologizing to him and doesn’t want to lose your friendship over him?” Zayn asks. 

This time, it is Louis’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Huh?” He manages to say out loud because he is sure he didn’t hear about that. 

Zayn, looking at Louis’s confused face, decides to ask about the truth again. “So what exactly have you heard at the café?” 

Louis blinks his eyes and he doesn’t know how to let it out but he does anyway. “I heard Niall said that he loves you too. And then he hugged you tightly…” Louis trails off. Saying it out loud finally makes me realize that it sounds stupid. 

Zayn sighs as he finally knows on why Louis is mad at him about. He finally realizes that Louis had only heard about the end of the conversation and misunderstood it. “Why didn’t you ask me or Niall about it, Lou? Like I told you, I went there to apologize to him. And he also apologized to me that he picked you, Lou. He told me that you’re my bestfriend and he doesn’t want us to fight if he picks one of us. He was trying to convince me that you love me as your bestfriend the same way that I love you too. And he hugged me because I was such a wreck at that time, Lou. I was sure that you hated me that day but Niall told me that you have a big heart and would always love your bestfriend, despite whatever happened.” 

“Oh.” Louis says stupidly after Zayn finishes with his explanation. _Shit_ , what had he done? How come he let his own insecurity get control of his life? “What have I done?” Louis mumbles miserably and his body slumps towards the couch when Zayn releases his grip. 

Zayn, sensing that Louis finally realizes on his mistake, decides to let Louis takes it all in and shifts his body to sit beside Louis too. “Did you know that he came to meet you at the house when Stan was crashing here?” Zayn asks after few minutes of silence. 

Louis suddenly sit up properly and exclaims “what?!”

Zayn nods. “ Harry told me. He said that Niall came back into the car crying and said that he should never trust you.” Zayn says and turns to look at Louis. “It seems like he saw Stan here, I guess.” 

Louis, who is too shock to react, suddenly recalls on the day where Stan had told him that someone wanted to see him but he was in the shower, and Stan..damn, Stan was in the shower downstairs too. “Shit!” Louis curses. He knew how must bad it must look to Niall at the moment. Louis quickly stands up and heads towards the front door. He has to do something about this big misunderstanding. 

 

**

 

Louis shifts his feet nervously in front of the door and takes a deep breath before he knocks. It takes fourth knocks later before the door is open and a familiar face of a curly-haired guy is appears in front of him. 

“Louis? What are you doing here?” Harry asks as soon as he opens the door and spots Louis, who is standing in front of him. 

“I want to see Niall.” Louis says nervously. The way that Harry looks at him only increase his nervousness because there is no friendly smiles on Harry’s face like usual, only a frown and Louis doesn’t like it. 

Harry rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest, still glaring at Louis. “After you ignored his calls and all, you have the guts to see him again?” Harry growls. He really is mad with Louis. When Niall needs the older guy, Louis doesn’t even reply to Niall’s calls and texts, and it makes Harry mad. No one can mess with his bestfriend, ever. 

“Look, Harry. I know it’s my fault. It was just a misunderstanding between us that I need to sort out. Can I see him, please?” Louis pleads. 

Harry looks at the guy in front of him and can see that Louis really needs to see Niall at the moment. It takes few seconds of thinking before Harry finally steps aside and nods, gesturing Louis to come into the house. He then leads Louis to the living room and finally stops near the couch. 

“Ni, there’s someone here for you.” Harry announces. 

 

**

 

“Ni, there’s someone here for you.” Harry calls and Niall turns his head from the television only to see Louis standing nervously beside Harry. He quickly stands up and looks at Louis, or more accurately, glares at the older guy. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Niall hisses angrily.

Louis steps forward towards Niall. “Ni, I want to explain.” Louis says. 

Niall crosses his arms over his chest and scoffs. “Explain what? Explain that you had ditched me when I tried to reach you or the fact that you might be had a shower together with you ex-boyfriend or what?” 

Harry, sensing that it is not the conversation that he is allowed to join in, excuses himself. “I’ll leave you two to talk.” Harry says as he flees out from the room.

Niall watches Harry leaves before he turns to look at Louis again. So, Louis finally shows up at his doorstep, huh? 

Louis takes another step forward and looks at Niall. “Ni, I know I have a lot to explain. Well, actually, I was mad at you first.” Louis says. 

Niall raises his eyebrows in confusion at Louis’s words. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Louis sighs and rubs his face before he looks at Niall again. “I was stupid, Ni. I went to the café to meet you but then I heard you were talking to Zayn and I, Louis-stupid-Tomlinson jumped into conclusion and to cut the story short, I was stupid and insecure and I misheard you and Zayn and I fled. I ignored your calls and texts because I was mad. But Zayn had told me the real story today. I was so stupid for not asking you or him about it and jumped into conclusion instead. I’m so sorry, Niall.” 

Niall blinks his eyes stupidly after Louis explanations and shakes his head. “What about Stan? Your ex-boyfriend who you love so much?” Niall asks bitterly. 

“He just crashed at my house for a night, nothing else. That day when he said someone was at the door, was it you?” Louis asks. 

Niall shrugs. “You think?” 

Louis sighs. “I think it was you, Niall. It was a just a big misunderstanding with our situation now. You saw him in towel but he was showered downstairs and I was upstairs, alone in my own bedroom and my _own_ bathroom, Ni. Nothing happened, I swear.” 

“But you love him…right…” Niall trails off. 

“I _loved_ him, Ni. Not love. It was all in the past. I got over him already.” Louis says firmly, trying to convince Niall about the truth.

“Really?” Niall asks skeptically, disbelief laces in his voice. 

Louis takes a step forward and reaches for Niall’s hand. He thanks God that Niall doesn’t pull away at the moment. “Niall James Horan..” Louis starts as he stares right into Niall’s eyes. “I swear to god that right now my heart belongs with you. You make me happy and clumsy and nervous and I’ve never ever felt like this before. Not even with Stan. And I like being with you.” Louis says sincerely.

Niall stares at Louis’s eyes and can see the sincerity in the older lad’s eyes. “I don’t know what to believe, Lou. I told you I have a hard time to trust people and you did that and I..I don’t know what to think..I just..I don’t know what I’m feeling but I really like to be with you too..”

Louis smiles and runs his thumb gently over Niall’s cheek. “Then be with me. If you still remember, I did ask you to be my boyfriend, and you kinda agreed.”

“I..” Niall trails off. “I don’t know..I just..” Niall hesitates again before Louis’s lips suddenly connected with his own and his eyes go wide for a second before he recovers from his shock and returns the kiss.

They both pant slightly as soon as they pull away from the kiss and Niall swears his heart is racing by a million miles at the moment. Louis smiles at him fondly. 

“What was that for?” Niall asks as he looks at Louis and he can feel his cheeks flushes.

Louis shakes his head. “For being so damn adorably stubborn. For God’s sake, Niall, just kiss me already!” Louis whines playfully and Niall laughs out loud. 

“Damn, you can be so pushy sometimes.” Niall retorts but leans in closer to Louis’s face nonetheless. “Yes, Louis the Tommo Tomlinson, I would like to kiss you.” Niall says before both of them kiss their insecurities and worries away when they kiss each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this story with Nouis in my head but along the way, who do you guys think is the perfect fit for Niall?


	17. Chapter 17

“Yeah! Someone got lucky last night!” Harry whoops as soon as he sees Niall with Liam talking on the couch at Liam’s house. Liam laughs out loud while Niall’s face flushes red. Harry grins happily and takes a seat besides Niall and puts his arms around his bestfriend. “I heard that you guys had made up and ‘made out’,” Harry teases cheekily and Niall’s ears go red along with his already red-faced. 

Niall punches Harry’s arms playfully and turns to glare at Liam. “What the hell, Li? I just told you about those 15 minutes ago! How come Harry can know about that so soon?” Niall scolds. 

Liam chuckles and points to his cellphone. “The power of technology.” Liam replies simply and Harry reaches out for his high-five and both of them laugh as Niall pouts. 

“Pricks!” Niall mutters fondly at his bestfriends. 

Liam winks at Harry and the curly-haired guy nods at him. They love seeing Niall is happy again like this. Eventhough they were mad at Louis before for making Niall sad and moping, but somehow the guy is also the one who can put up a smile on Niall’s face again. 

“So, it’s all alright between the two of you now? No more misunderstanding?” Liam asks. 

Niall nods and sips on his drink before put the cup back on the table. “Yeah. We cleared it out last night. I explained about the situation with Zayn and he explained about Stan too. Apparently we’re just bunches of idiots who like to jump into conclusion.” Niall says and chuckles as he remembers the conversation with Louis. “But we promise to change that in future.” 

Harry smiles and nods at his bestfriend’s words. “That’s great. I’m happy for you.” He says sincerely. 

Liam nods, agreeing with Harry. The three of them talk and laugh again before suddenly they hear another voice behind them. 

“Daddy, I’m tired.” Adam says and Liam looks at how Niall’s smile fall and a frown replace the smile on his face instead. 

Niall stands from the couch and is about to pick up his son when suddenly Danielle appears beside him and pats his shoulder gently. “Let me take him to sleep in our room, yeah?” Danielle offers and Niall nods. “Thanks, Dani.” He says and Danielle smiles. “No problem, Ni.” She replies before she picks Adam up and brings him to the room for a nap. 

Niall watches as Danielle leaves and retreats to the couch again. He rubs his face and sighs. “Have you told Louis about Adam?” Liam asks suddenly and Niall shakes his head. 

“Not yet. I just, I don’t know how to tell him.” Niall admits. Part of him is not ready yet to break Louis’s world with his own problem but part of him wants Louis to be there for him and Adam too. 

Harry nods understandingly as he looks at Niall. He knows that Niall takes time to trust people about his life, especially with Adam’s life. “It’s okay, Ni. You can tell him later when you’re ready, yeah?” Harry assures and Niall nods gratefully. 

 

**

 

“Vas Happenin?!” Zayn greets as soon as he spots Niall at the park, sitting on the bench as he watches Adam at the playground. 

Niall turns his head to look at Zayn and raises his eyebrows surprisingly. “Zayn? What are you doing here?” Niall asks. 

Zayn grins and pulls out his sketch pad from his backpack. “I was thinking of drawing something fun today and I decided to draw kids playing and all. And here I am, bumping into you.” Zayn says. 

Niall chuckles at Zayn’s explanation. “I see. Go on with your work. I’d be sitting here, quietly.” Niall says. 

Zayn laughs and shakes his head. “I don’t mind about the noise actually. I’m not really a loner artist, you know?” 

Niall chuckles again and both of them start to talk randomly before Adam suddenly appears in front of Niall. Niall stops talking and looks at Adam worriedly. “What happened? Are you tired? You want to go home?” Niall asks. 

Adam shakes his head. “Daddy, don’t talk too fast.” He scolds and Zayn chuckles, making Adam looks at him. “Uncle Zayn!” He exclaims excitedly and hugs Zayn. Zayn returns the hug and kisses Adam’s cheek fondly. The kid is so cute. 

Adam pulls away from Zayn and stands to look at his father again. “Daddy, can I play with the swing?” He asks for permission. 

Niall sighs as he looks at Adam. “Adam, we talked about this. I’m afraid that you’ll get dizzy from the swing. Why don’t you continue with the other things to play?” 

Adam pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. “But I want to swing too. I promise I'll stop if I get dizzy.” Adam says. “Please?” He continues as he bats his eyelashes to his father, giving Niall his most-adorable-puppy-eyes ever. 

Niall sighs as he looks at his son’s face. Damn that look. “Fine.” Niall says reluctantly. “Just be careful and promise me you’ll call me if you feel dizzy or tired, okay?” 

Adam grins widely and nods. “I promise!” He says before he turns around, leaving a worried Niall and a very oblivious Zayn. 

“He is such a kid.” Zayn comments, glancing at Niall, who is apparently never take his eyes off Adam. 

“Yeah.” Niall replies distractedly. He is really worried about Adam actually. These past few days, Adam had complaint that he felt dizzy and when Niall went to ask the doctor about it, the doctor said it’s normal for the patient to get a dizzy spell sometimes. 

Zayn watches Niall and frowns. He can feel something is wrong by the way Niall is acting and being a straightforward guy that he is, Zayn decides to ask Niall about it. “What’s wrong, Niall?” 

“Huh?” Niall replies as he looks at Zayn. 

Zayn shrugs. “You look worried. I mean, I get it that you’re worried about Adam everyday but you seem different today.” 

If Niall is surprise by Zayn’s observation, he doesn’t let it show but he is really surprised by how perceptive Zayn can be. “Yeah well, I’m just being a worried father, that’s all.” Niall says and forces a smile. 

Zayn shakes his head and shifts to face Niall properly and stares into Niall’s eyes. He knows Niall is lying. “Look, don’t be mad at me, yeah? I know that you’re lying.” Zayn says. “What is _really_ wrong, Niall?” 

Niall shakes his head and avoids any eye contact with Zayn. “Nothing’s wrong, Zayn.” Niall replies unconvincingly. 

“Is this about Louis? I thought you guys had made up?” Zayn asks. Louis had told him about it and frankly speaking, Zayn is glad because it means that Niall can be happy again with Louis. 

Niall shakes his head firmly. “No, it’s not about Louis.” Niall blurts before he finally realizes that he is indeed confirming to Zayn that something is wrong with his life. 

Zayn smiles as he sees realization dawns on Niall’s face. “See? There is something wrong here, yeah?” Zayn says. 

Niall sighs. “Zayn..” 

Zayn shakes his head, wouldn’t want to bulge from his question. “Niall..”

Niall tries to stand up and get away from Zayn when Zayn grabs his arm. That’s when Niall finally snaps. “Adam has leukemia, okay! Satisfied?! That is what is wrong with my life!” Niall hisses. 

Zayn feels himself stand up as he turns Niall to look at him and he swallows thickly when he sees Niall’s teary eyes. “Niall…” Zayn trails off. He doesn’t know what else he wants to say. Saying ‘I’m sorry’ apparently won’t help with anything. 

Niall sniffs and shakes his head when Zayn tries to speak again. “Sorry..I didn’t mean to snap…I just..God..” Niall trails off and looks at Zayn. “I don’t want to lose him, Zayn.” Niall says. 

Zayn grabs Niall into his arms and pats his back comfortingly. “You won’t. I know you won’t.” Zayn assures and they both pull away before they seat again on the bench. 

Few minutes of silence passed before Zayn speaks up. “Who else knows about this?” He asks. 

“My parents, Harry, Liam, Danielle and now, you.” Niall replies. 

“What about Louis?” 

Niall sniffs again. “Not yet.” He says before he continues. “I don’t know how to tell him, Zayn. Would he accept that he will be burdened by this problem of mine? Would he love Adam after knowing that he is sick?” Niall voices out his fear to Zayn. 

Zayn shifts closer to Niall and wraps his arms around the smaller guy. “Look, Niall. I don’t blame you for not ready to tell him yet. Hell, even I, had to pry it out, but that’s just me being the busybody-concern-friend I am.” Zayn says and Niall chuckles slightly. “But trust me on this, Niall. Louis loves Adam and I don’t think with Adam being sick, it will make Louis stop loving him. In fact, I bet Louis would like to be there with you, with Adam for whatever that will happen.” Zayn assures. 

“You think so?” Niall asks, quietly as he plays with the string of his hoodie. 

Zayn nods and smiles. “I don’t think, I just know it.” 

Niall tilts his head to look at Zayn and smiles back. “Thank you, Zayn. For being such a great friend to me.” Niall says. “I’ll talk to Louis later about this.” 

“That’s my boy.” Zayn says and whispers quietly. “Anything to make you happy, Niall.” 

 

**

 

“You smell good.” Louis says as he wraps his arms tighter around Niall as they are strolling down the sidewalk after their dinner. 

Niall smiles. “Yeah, I bathed. Unlike you.” He teases and Louis laughs out loud. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t bath. He was just late to meet Niall so he thought, what the hell. Just go to the date without a bath, that’s just so rock-n-roll. 

“So, where to?” Louis asks. 

Niall bits his lips nervously before he replies. “You want to hang out at the park?” Niall asks as he tilts his head to look at Louis. He wants to tell Louis about Adam at the quiet place so that they can talk about it properly. 

Louis nods. “Sure.” 

They walk together and talk randomly when suddenly they bump into someone. Niall feels like he knows that guy from somewhere but it’s quite dark and he couldn’t remember well until Louis suddenly greets the other guy. “Stan!” 

Of fucking course, Niall thinks. No wonder the guy looks familiar. Niall watches as Stan smiles widely at Louis and Niall never wants to admit but inside he feels _jealous._

“What are you doing here?” Louis asks Stan because as far as he knows it, Stan had gone back to Doncaster after he crashed at Louis’s house couple of weeks before. 

“Well, I’m moving back to London! Got a job here and all.” Niall hears Stan’s reply and his heart sinks. So, Stan, who happens to be Louis’s ex-boyfriend will be in London, after this? 

“Wow! Didn’t see it coming.” Louis says before the turns to grab Niall’s hand. “So, Stan. This is Niall.” He says and points out at Niall. “Niall, this is Stan.” Niall nods and shakes Stan’s hand as Stan nods at him and smiles politely. The guy seems harmless, Niall thinks but he can’t help but feels a little insecure because Stan is truly a good-looking chap.

“So, I’m on my way to grab a few drinks with old friends from Doncaster.” Stan announces. “Fancy to join us, Lou?” He offers. 

Niall swallows as he looks at Louis and Stan. Tonight is the night where he is supposed to tell Louis about Adam but yet, God has other plans for him. But wait, Louis hasn’t gives his answer yet, right? 

“Niall??” Louis asks, breaking Niall out from his stupor. 

Niall blinks his eyes as he looks at two pair of eyes who is now looking at him. He then looks at Louis and he knows. He knows that Louis wants to meet his old friends. Niall, being a nice boyfriend that he is, musters a smile and nods. “Yeah, go on. I just realized that I have another thing to do after all.” He says and Louis smiles widely at him. He leans forward to kiss Niall before he turns to leave with Stan. Niall watches as they leave and looks up at the sky. He doesn’t get to tell Louis about Adam yet, but he promises to himself that he’ll talk to Louis sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to a long holiday tomorrow so might not going to update soon. Anyhow, enjoy xx


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I can't update sooner because I've been busy for the whole week and the upcoming weeks as well. But I'll try my best to update this story as soon as I can, okay? xx

“So, today, we’re going to do outdoor activities!” Louis announces excitedly. The kids in front of him start to jump joyously and Louis smiles at the scene. He loves kids. Hell, he even feels like a kid himself, that was why he wanted to be a kindergarten teacher at the first place. 

Louis herds all of the kids to the front yard and everyone starts to play with their own things. Louis stands and crosses his arms as he watches around. There are about 20 kids there and all of them are adorable. Then his eyes stop on Adam and smiles at the boy. Adam is talking to his friends and all of them laugh at Adam’s joke. “Too much like Niall.” Louis mutters to himself. 

“Mr. Lou! Can you help me with the paper plane?” Louis looks down at the small voice only to find one of the kids tug on his shirt and hands him a piece of paper. 

“Of course, love.” Louis replies as he leans down and starts to fold the paper. He talks to the kid about how he can make the boat by the paper also and it warms his heart when the kid laughs. Louis is still talking and laughing with the kid when suddenly he hears his name being called upon frantically. 

“Mr. Lou!!!!” Louis turns his head to look at the direction of the voice. And then he sees it. The kid who is calling him frantically is standing in front of Adam. Or what it looks like Adam who is now lying on the ground, motionless. 

Louis jogs towards them in a flash and kneels beside Adam and pulls Adam’s head on his lap. “What happened?” Louis asks, his tone calm eventhough his heart is beating rapidly. The kid who was playing with Adam speaks up shakily. “I was talking to him then he suddenly fainted!” The kid wails and Louis nods absentmindedly as he feels Adam’s forehead. “Look, go inside and tell Mrs. Florence to call 911, okay?” Louis orders and a group of kids run towards the building, leaving Louis with Adam. Louis tries to tap Adam’s cheek gently but Adam wouldn’t open his eyes. “Shit. What’s wrong with you, Adam?” Louis asks quietly. 

 

**

 

As soon as Niall enters the waiting room at the hospital, he goes straight to Louis and hugs him tightly. “What happened?” Niall asks, shakily. His heart was about to jump out from his chest when he got the call from Louis informing him that he was in the hospital, with Adam. Niall literally ran to his car and drove like a maniac to the hospital. 

“Niall, I’m so sorry.” Louis apologizes as he wraps his arms around Niall. Once they pull away, Louis stares at Niall and speaks up again. “We were having an outdoor activity when Adam fainted. I’m sorry, Ni. I wasn’t looking after Adam at the moment.” Louis says guiltily. 

Niall shakes his head. “It’s okay, Lou. Wasn’t your fault. Actually..” 

“Mr. Horan?” Niall’s head turns to look at the doctor and he faces the doctor completely. 

The doctor nods at Niall and adjusts his coat around his shoulder before he talks. “Look, as I told you before, this is normal in this stage. He fainted today because a low blood pressure and his energy is draining.” The doctor explains. 

Niall rubs his face tiredly. He should’ve known better than to let Adam went to school this morning. When he opens his eyes, he suddenly spots Liam, Harry and Zayn walking towards him and the doctor, with Louis standing by his side. 

“What happened?” Harry asks worriedly as soon as the three of them reaches Niall. Liam and Zayn also look worried and Niall sighs. 

“He fainted. Apparently it’s normal for the patient when they’re in this stage.” Niall explains. 

The doctor clears his throat to get all of their attention and all of them turn to look at the doctor again. “So, I just want to let you know that Adam will stay a night here and then we will look at how is his progress tomorrow.” The doctor says and turns around, exiting the waiting room. 

Louis, who had watched the whole exchange from few minutes ago, frowns and looks at Niall, Harry, Liam and Zayn. He is so confuses at the moment. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” 

 

**

 

“He has what?!” Louis exclaims after Niall tells him everything. “Since when?” Louis asks. 

Niall shifts uncomfortably and sighs. “He has leukemia. We only found out about that like a month ago.” Niall explains. 

“ _We?_ ” Louis asks heatedly. He is starting to get angry over the fact that everyone seems to know about Adam’s condition except him. No wonder everyone is so calm at the moment because they knew. They fucking knew and nobody told him about it. 

“Does everyone knows?!” Louis asks, looking for an answer as he stares hard at Niall. 

Niall can sense that Louis is mad and nods guiltily. “Only them..” Niall says, referring to the other three at the room. “… and Danielle and my parents.” He continues. 

“And you didn’t have the brain to tell me because I’m your boyfriend?!!” Louis spats angrily. How could he not, even Zayn knows about it! 

Louis starts to stand up from the bench that they are sitting and Niall grabs his arms but Louis shrugs it away. “I’m sorry, Lou. I didn’t know how to break the news to you! Then the night when I had the courage to tell you, we bumped into Stan and you wanted to hang out with your friends and then I kind of lost the courage..” Niall trails off, trying to explain his situation. It’s not like he’s hiding Adam’s condition from Louis on purpose. 

Louis shakes his head disbelievingly. “That’s not even the reason! And now you blame me for ruining your perfect timing?” Louis accuses angrily. 

“No! It’s not that!” Niall tries to tell Louis but Louis scoffs angrily as he starts to walk away. 

“I need to get out of here. I have enough putting up with hypocrisy.” Louis says, leaving angrily and Niall looks sadly as Louis walks away from him.

 

** 

 

Louis walks aimlessly, kicking the rocks along the pavement as he stares at the ground. He may over react at the hospital but it was because he was hurt. How could Niall does not tell him about the important thing that is happening in his life? Who is he to Niall? 

He doesn’t acknowledge about his surrounding and suddenly he bumps into someone. “Sorry.” Louis mutters quietly, without even looking at the person. He is about to walk away when the person calls his name. Louis’s head snaps up and stares at the person. “Stan.” 

“We should stop bumping into each other like this.” Stan jokes. Louis just shrugs and gives a slight shrug, making Stan frowns with Louis’s attitude. “What’s wrong?” 

Louis sighs. “Rough day.” He replies shortly. 

Stan chuckles and puts his arms around Louis. This time, Louis doesn’t even mind because honestly, he needs someone to comfort him at the moment. “Tell me about it.” Stan says and Louis tilts his head to look at the taller guy. “Drinks at my house?” Louis offers and Stan nods enthusiastically. 

They drink as much as they can and Louis swears he can feel the world is upside down at the moment. He doesn’t even realize when he and Stan had gotten onto the bed and both are giggling under the blanket like teenagers. 

“That’s more like Louis that I know.” Stan says when Louis laughs drunkenly as Stan tickles him under the blanket. 

Louis shakes his head and feels the buzzing inside, rolling to face Stan. “Thanks, Stan.” Louis says, drunk from all the liquors that they had. When Stan moves closer to him, Louis doesn’t even remember anything except that he feels like his world is going to explode because suddenly their lips are touching and their hands are roaming on each other’s body, moaning each other’s name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so...what do you guys think?


	19. Chapter 19

The first thing that Louis notices as soon as he opens his eyes is the pounding in his head and he groans. The second thing that he notices is that he is naked under the blanket and rolls to his back. He starts to stretch his arms wide open when suddenly his left arm hit on a lump besides him. Louis’s eyes widen as soon as he sees the lump and he swallows nervously. Slowly, he pulls up the blanket and he gasps in horror when he sees the person who is now starting to wake up too. “Stan!” Louis whimpers as soon as Stan opens his eyes and both of them realizes on what had happened. 

“No..no..this can’t be happening…” Louis whimpers as he clutches the blanket to cover his naked body but he knows that he had screwed up already. He had slept with Stan. He had cheated on Niall. At that thought, Louis feels his eyes sting and tears fall down on his cheek. 

Stan quickly sits and gasps as he looks at Louis, who is now sobbing because of their mistake. Slowly, Stan starts to pick up his clothes on the floor and put them on. Then he sits beside Louis, and feels sorry for his ex-boyfriend. “Lou, calm down. It’s okay.” 

“It’s not okay! I screwed up!” Louis wails miserably. 

Stan shakes his head. “Not you. _‘We’_ screwed up. But it was a drunken mistake. It meant nothing to us, right?” Stan assures. 

“But…” Louis trails off. Yes, it meant nothing. But still, he cheated on Niall. The damage had been done. 

“Look, you and I both know that meant nothing. And it was not our mistakes because we were so drunk. So, let’s just say, we keep this thing between us only. What Niall doesn’t know, won’t hurt him, right?” Stan says. 

Louis let the thought ponders in his mind for seconds before he nods. What Stan had said is true. He didn’t mean it, so it won’t be count as cheating, right? 

“Can you just…leave?” Louis says and Stan nods understandingly. He stands up and heading towards the door. But before he closes the door, he looks back at Louis. “Let’s just hope that we will never bump into each other again, shall we?” Stan says. 

Louis wipes his tears and nods. “Okay.” He replies. He really doesn’t want to meet Stan again. He just wants Niall. 

 

**

 

Zayn enters the room quietly and walks towards the bed, looking at Niall who is watching Adam sleeping soundly on the bed. 

“How is he?” Zayn asks once he reaches Adam’s bed and Niall tilts his head to look at Zayn. 

Niall rubs his face tiredly and sighs. “Still sleeping.” He replies. “You’re here early.” Niall points out as he looks at the clock on the wall. 

“I’ve got nothing to do at the house.” Zayn replies. Or more likely, he lies. It’s just the fact that Zayn had heard the voice of Louis talking to someone none other than Stan in his bedroom, early in the morning, had made Zayn sees red, but he doesn’t want to tell Niall about that. Niall has enough things to worry at the moment.

“How’s Louis?” Niall asks quietly. After Louis walked away from the hospital, Niall had tried to call him but Louis didn’t pick up. Niall figured Louis might be at home because that’s what Louis always does when he is mad. And Niall knows for sure that Louis is mad at him. 

“I’m not sure. I slept early last night and haven’t seen him.” Zayn lies. He feels guilty but he knows it’s for Niall’s own sake. 

Niall nods and when he is about to ask Zayn again, Adam starts to stir up from his sleep and calling for him. ” Daddy…I’m not feeling well..” Adam whines quietly. 

Niall leans down to brush Adam’s bangs and kisses his son’s temple gently. “It’s okay, you’ll be ok. I’m here baby. Always.” 

 

**

 

“The main treatment for childhood leukemia is chemotherapy. Other treatments such as surgery and radiation therapy may be used in special circumstances. So, I take it now that you do understand that Adam needs to do the chemotherapy, right?” The doctor asks. 

Niall nods and looks at the doctor. He understands what the doctor is saying. Especially after the doctor had briefed him earlier about the options that can be choose to treat Adam. Niall feels so surreal but he knows he cannot crumbles at the moment. His son needs him and he needs his son to get better. 

“I read that bone marrow transplant can be used to instead of chemotherapy, is that right?” Niall asks. 

The doctor nods and starts to explain. “Sometimes a bone marrow transplant may be necessary instead of chemotherapy, depending on the type of leukemia a child has. During a bone marrow transplant, healthy bone marrow is introduced into a child's body.”

“So, it’s possible that I can donate my bone marrow to my child?” Niall asks, sitting up straight as he looks at the doctor for the answer. 

The doctor ponders the thought about it for a moment before he finally nods. “Yeah, we can consider it and have a test first to find out if you can be his donor. Any next of kin can also have a test if they want.” 

 

**

 

“Are you guys sure you all want to do this?” Niall asks again to Harry and Liam who are sitting with him at one of the examination rooms at the hospital. 

“We are 100% sure about this, Ni. Don’t worry.” Harry replies as he wraps his arms around Niall and smiles at his bestfriend. Once he got the message from Niall, he contacted Liam they decided to go to the hospital together to test for the suitable donor for Adam. Even Danielle is there too, because she said that Adam is her precious too. 

“Thank you, guys. You guys are the best.” Niall exclaims as he pulls them all into a pile of big hug. He is really thankful that he has such great friends like all of them. Niall smiles at them and is about to pull away from the hug when he sees someone at the entrance of the room. 

“Louis…” Niall says and all of them turn to look at behind them. 

“Hi.” Louis greets shortly as he waves from the door. He had received the message from Niall about the test for the donor and that’s why he comes. Plus, he is kind of missing Niall. “I heard about the test. I want to help too.” He says. 

Niall nods and glances at his friends to look for their reaction. Liam, Danielle and Harry seem to glare at Louis and Niall sighs inwardly. Sometimes his friends can be overprotective about him and this is one of the examples of that overprotectiveness. 

“You come here so that you can leave Niall again when you’re mad at him?” Surprisingly, it is not Harry or Liam, but Danielle who has spoken. 

Louis shuffles nervously and swallows as he looks at the fiery eyes of the girl in front of him. If looks could kill, he knows he’d be dead by that murderous glare. 

“I just..” Louis trails off. “Can I just talk to Niall..alone?” He asks. 

Niall is about to reply when suddenly Liam’s voice pipes in. “What if we don’t want to leave?” Liam challenges and Niall rolls his eyes. 

“Can you guys excuse us?” Niall says and steps forward. “Please?” He continues and gives them his puppy eyes. Sometimes he has to pull out that look of him to get what he wants. He smiles gratefully when the three of them finally give in and make their way out of the room, but not without a glare of warning that is directed to Louis before they leave Niall and Louis alone. 

Once the three of them left, Louis walks closer to Niall and wraps his boyfriend in a hug. “I’m sorry. I was overreacted.” Louis apologizes. He know he has other thing, big thing that he has to be sorry for but as Stan had said to him, what Niall doesn’t know won’t hurt him and hurting Niall is the last thing that Louis wants to do at the moment. 

Niall wraps his arms around Louis in return and hooks his chin on Louis’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Lou. I understand. Let’s put this behind us, yeah?” 

Louis pulls away and stares at Niall, leans down slightly to kiss his boyfriend. “Thank you.” 

Niall returns the kiss and smiles. “You’re welcome. Thank you to you too. You don’t have to do this for me.” Niall says, referring to the marrow bone donor thing. 

Louis shakes his head. “I’m not doing this just for you only, Ni. I’m doing this for Adam too. You know I love him, as much as I love you.” He says sincerely. 

Niall feels warmth in his heart when Louis says that. He knows part of Louis that makes Niall loves him is the way that Louis really loves Adam. “We’re so lucky to have you in our lives.” 

 

**

 

Niall shifts his position a little on the bed so Adam can cuddle closer to him and his son finally rests his head on Niall’s chest and Niall wraps his arms around Adam protectively. 

“Daddy..” Adam calls out softly. 

“Yes, baby? Are you hurt? You want me to get off the bed?” Niall asks. 

Adam chuckles lightly and shakes his head. “Can you sing a song for me?” He requests. Niall nods and starts to sing quietly.   
  
When you close your eyes and go to sleep tonight..  
I'll be right outside your door..  
Dreams will come and they'll take you away..  
Let them bring you back to me..

_And tomorrow when you wake I'll be next to you.._  
The protection from the day..  
When the tears fall down your face like morning dew..  
I'll be there to put a smile on your face..  
And I'll say.. 

_I don't wanna live this life without you.._  
I don't wanna spend the night without you..  
I don't wanna know what it's like..  
I can't dream without you..  
I can't dream without you.. 

_Let your fire burn bright for the world to see.._  
You are the better part of me..  
When you hold my hand I swear that I believe..  
I'm living in my wildest dreams..  
And I see.. 

_I don't wanna live this life without you.._  
I don't wanna spend the night without you..  
I don't wanna know what it's like..  
I can't dream without you..  


Niall stops singing when he feels tears prickle in his eyes and he doesn’t want to let Adam to see he cries. So Niall stops and tries to act strong in front of his son when the small face on his chest tilts upwards slightly to see at Niall. 

“You have a nice voice, daddy.” Adam says sincerely. Niall smiles as he looks at his son. “Thanks.” He replies and both of them falls into silence before suddenly Adam speaks up again. 

“Am I going to die?” He asks in a small voice and Niall feels his breath hitches. 

Niall cups Adam’s face in his hands and looks at his son. “No. Who told you that?” 

Adam shrugs. “Nobody. But I heard that if you have cancer, you can die.” Adam points out innocently. 

Niall shakes his head. “Well, for a smart and strong kid like you, you won’t.” Niall says convincingly eventhough he doesn’t know whether he is convincing Adam or himself. 

Adam seems to be satisfied with Niall’s answer and wraps his little arms around Niall tightly. “I love you so much daddy.” He says.

Niall chokes on his breathe at Adam’s action and is trying his best not to crumble right there and then. Instead he puts his arms around Adam and kisses his son’s temple lovingly. “I love you so much too, baby.”


	20. Chapter 20

Zayn clenches and unclenches his fist as he glares at both of people in front of him. He just got back from his gallery and as soon as he spots Louis with Stan, Zayn feels his blood boils. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Zayn spits, glaring directly at Stan. 

Stan flinches a little and motions to the laundry room. “I had some of my clothes left up the other day. Just want to pick it up.” He replies casually. 

“Oh, yeah. The day when you two fucked with each other, wasn’t it?” Zayn spits again. He turns to glare at Louis. 

Louis shakes his head, trying to hide his surprise and nervousness as Zayn glares at him. How in the hell that Zayn knows about the night? “Don’t talk bullshit, Zayn. You don’t know anything.” Louis replies. 

Zayn huffs angrily as he steps forward to face Louis and Stan is really trying to be stand quietly but Zayn steps towards both of them anyway. “Don’t. Lie. To. Me. I saw him leaving your room in the morning last week, Louis. And fuck if I don’t know how the smell of sex reeks after someone had it.” Zayn scoffs. 

Louis tries to speak up to defense himself when suddenly Stan cut him off. “Look, it was a mistake okay. We were drunk and he was lonely and we didn’t even realize. We just fucked. That’s all. It’s not like I want to sleep with Louis again, anyway.” Stan points out loudly. 

“Is that true?” A voice behind them speaks and Zayn, Louis and Stan turn to look at the entrance of the hallway. Zayn can only mutter one word as soon as he sees the person. Shit. 

 

**

 

Niall pulls off his raincoat as soon as he arrives at Louis’s house and curses at the heavy rain that makes him wet. He knocks on the door for several times but no one seems to answer. Niall pulls out his cellphone to look back at the text that Louis had sent him. Once he read it again, he is sure that Louis had asked him to come to the house. Niall tries to knock again but still, no one is answering. He turns the doorknob and smiles triumphantly when it is unlock. Niall steps into the house and heading to the hallway when he hears voices. He raises his eyebrows as soon as he sees Zayn and Louis with Stan at the hallway. What in the hell that Stan is doing here? Niall is about to announce his presence when he hears it. 

“Don’t. Lie. To. Me. I saw him leaving your room in the morning last week, Louis. And fuck if I don’t know how the smell of sex reeks after someone had it.” Niall hears Zayn scoffs. He feels his heart drops. _What the hell is Zayn talking about?_

Niall sees Louis is about to open his mouth when suddenly Niall hears Stan’s loud voice. “Look, it was a mistake okay. We were drunk and he was lonely and we didn’t even realize. We just fucked. That’s all. It’s not like I want to sleep with Louis again, anyway.” 

That’s when Niall feels his heart shatters. Louis had slept with Stan? And it was only last week? What the hell? “Is that true?” He asks quietly but they hear him anyway and everyone turns to look at Niall. 

Louis gasps in shock as he realizes that Niall had heard the end of the conversation and he steps forward towards Niall and tries to grab Niall’s arm but Niall shrugs him off. “Ni…I…like Stan said..it was a drunken mistake..we were drunk..” Louis tries to explain as he looks at his boyfriend’s eyes, trying to show Niall that he is telling him the truth. 

“When did that happened?” Niall asks, still quietly but Louis can see that he is starting to get angry because Niall’s eyes never lies. Louis can see how Niall’s eyes are daggered towards him and Louis has the urge to flinch at the fiery gaze that Niall is sending him. 

“The night after I got mad at you for not telling me about Adam.” Louis replies. “I was upset!” He continues trying to defense his action. It is lame, he knows but that was the truth about that night. 

“You..was upset? YOU??!! What about _me???!!_ I was upset! Hell, I _am_ upset! My son is dying and all you can think about was that you were upset??!!” Niall yells, finally exploding and starts to shove Louis towards the wall angrily and clutches Louis’s shirt, thinking whether he should punch or kick Louis at the face. He is beyond mad. How could Louis be so selfish? He had worried about Louis that night and it turns out that Louis had gone off sleeping with his ex-boyfriend?!

Zayn who had been watching the scene quietly finally intrudes, trying to stop Niall from attacking Louis. As mad as he is at Louis, he doesn’t want Louis to get hurt and he knows that Niall would not want that too if he isn’t so mad at the moment. “Niall, stop. You’d hurt him.” Zayn says as he tries to pry Niall’s hand from Louis’s shirt. 

Niall shakes him off and turns his head to glare at Zayn angrily. “And you! You knew about them?! How in the hell you didn’t tell me? I thought you are my friend!” 

Zayn shakes his head sadly as he heard the hurt tone in Niall’s voice. “Niall, I just didn’t want you to feel bad. And you were worried with Adam already..” Zayn says, feeling like he fails Niall as a friend. 

Niall laughs humorlessly as he shakes his head disbelievingly. “Fuck all of you.” He says before he turns around and runs out of the house. He doesn’t care if the rain is pouring hard; he just needs to get away from the house. He hears Louis is calling from behind him and he quicken his steps, stepping over some puddles on the pavement but he doesn’t care. 

Louis grabs Niall’s arms as soon as he can reach him and Louis flinches when Niall snarls at him. “What?!!” 

“I’m sorry, Ni. I’m so so sorry. Please, get back into the house. You’d get sick. Please, can we talk about this like an adult?” Louis begs. Both of them are now drenching wet and Louis really doesn’t want Niall to get sick for being in the rain for too long. 

Niall scoffs angrily. “Adult, my ass. You, an adult got drink and fucked your ex-boyfriend over something that makes you upset and you ask me to act like an adult?” 

“Niall,please..I love..”

“Don’t!” Niall cuts Louis off. “Don’t say it.” He continues. “You broke my trust, Louis. It’s over. _We_ are over.” 

Louis shakes his head and tries to step closer towards Niall but Niall warns him not to. “Ni, don’t. Please, you’re not thinking rationally here. It was only once mistake. Let me make it to you, Ni. Please. I don’t want to lose you.” Louis pleads as he feels tears are rolling down his cheek, mixing with the rain that is pouring over them. 

Niall shakes his head. “Yeah, people always say that once bitten, twice shy. But for me, it’s more than that. For me, once bitten, forever bitter.” Niall says. He manages to give Louis a final, sad smile before he speaks up. “Bye, Louis.” Niall says finally and turns around, leaving Louis alone.

 

**

 

Niall steps into the hospital room in a drench clothes and he doesn’t even bother to dry himself off. He takes a seat on the chair besides the bed and strokes his finger on Adam’s face. Adam looks so small and innocent, sleeping on the bed and Niall feels something clench in his heart. 

“You’re all I’ve got, baby. Please, don’t leave me too. I love you too much.” Niall cries silently and rest his head on his arms, with his finger laces with Adam’s. 

He doesn’t know how long he is crying until suddenly Adam’s voice is heard. “Daddy?” Niall looks up as he feels a small hand carding through his hair. “Hi baby.” Niall greets his son. 

Adam looks at Niall and frowns. “Why are you crying?” 

Niall shakes his head and wipes his tears away. “I’m not crying. It was just the water from the rain outside.” Nail lies.

Adam looks at Niall disbelievingly. “Daddy, don’t lie.” Adam says and crosses his arms over his chest, showing that he doesn’t like it when Niall lies to him. 

Niall chuckles and leans closer to kiss Adam’s forehead. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get back to sleep, okay?” Niall says. 

Adam seems to satisfy with Niall’s answer but pouts anyway. He then pats a small space on his bed, gesturing Niall to lie with him on the bed. 

“But I’m wet, Adam.” Niall says as he points at his clothes. 

“I don’t care.” Adam says stubbornly and pouts again.

Niall sighs at his son’s tantrum and moves to the other side of the room to take his fresh shirts and pants from the bag that he had put there since Adam was admitted to the hospital. “Give me 2 minutes.” Niall says before he dashes to the bathroom and changes his wet clothes to the dry ones. 

When Niall comes out from the bathroom, Adam is still in the same position. Niall smiles and tries to fit beside his son on the bed. Then he lets Adam cuddles to his chest.

Adam wraps his arms around Niall and starts to speak up. “Daddy, if I ask you to promise me something, would you do it?” 

Niall nods. “Anything for you, baby. I promise.” Niall says sincerely. 

“I don’t like to see you sad, daddy.” Adam says innocently. “Promise me, that you won’t be sad if I’m gone.”

Niall chokes on his breathe as soon as Adam finishes with his words. ”Adam, I can’t…”

“You promised!” Adam points out stubbornly as he tilts his head to look at Niall. 

Niall is trying so hard to blink back his tears and wraps his arms tighter around Adam. “Okay, okay. I won’t be sad.” Niall says. “See, I’m smiling now.” Niall continues and forces a smile as he looks at Adam. 

Adam smiles in return and pinches Niall’s cheek. “That’s more like my handsome daddy.” He points and kisses Niall’s cheek before he yawns and puts his head on Niall’s chest again.

“Goodnight, baby.” Niall wishes as he sees Adam’s eyes are fluttering close. 

“Goodnight daddy.” Adam replies sleepily. 

Niall watches as Adam’s breathe falls into a regular rhyme, showing that he is asleep and Niall tilts his head down to stare at his sleeping son. He really loves Adam and after tonight, he knows Adam is the only one who can make him happy. Not his parents, his bestfriends and not even Louis. Just Adam. Niall feels his tears start to fall again. “Please…don’t leave me alone…” He whispers to his son sadly.


	21. Chapter 21

Harry opens the door of the hospital room and smiles at the scene in front of his eyes. Niall and Adam are cuddling together on the bed, watching some cartoons from the television. The sight is too familiar for Harry, he feels like he is at home but his smile falters a bit when he realizes that it’s not the same. They’re at the hospital and Adam is sick. He takes a deep breath before he starts to enter the room.

“Hi guys.” Harry greets as he closes the door and walks towards his bestfriend and Adam. 

Adam perks up immediately at the sight of Harry and smiles widely, despite his pale face and Harry thinks that the kid couldn’t look more adorable. “Uncle Harry!” Adam greets warmly and holds out his arms for Harry to hug him and Harry chuckles fondly as he leans down and hugs the kid. He has to swallow back a lump in his throat as he can feel how small Adam is compared to the last time he had seen the kid. 

“Welcome back, Haz.” Harry turns to look at Niall and hugs his bestfriend as well. 

“Thanks. I really miss you guys.” Harry admits as he pulls away and sits at the edge of Adam’s bed, facing Niall and Adam. 

“Auw, you’re so sweet. I thought you love touring.” Niall teases and Harry laughs and shakes his head. He really loves touring and he loves his fans but the timing couldn’t be more wrong. He had a tantrum a month before when his manager told him that he had to continue the rest of his tour after the break. He wanted to be there for Niall and Adam for the first session of the chemotherapy but no, his manager wouldn’t have any of it. He was so mad, he nearly cried when he vented to Niall about that. Niall had hugged him and assured him that it was okay, and he really appreciate Harry’s will but Harry had to focus on his job too. And Niall promised to update him about Adam everyday and Harry had reluctantly gone to his tour. Being a darling and all, Harry managed to cut the tour short by compromising with his management and fans understand about his situation and that’s why only three weeks later, he is back home, with Niall and Adam and he couldn’t be more grateful. He promised Niall that he would be there to help him with Adam and Harry intends to keep the promise. 

“Yeah, yeah. But I love my family more.” Harry says sincerely and Niall smiles at him. 

“You’re too sweet.” Niall says as he starts to get up from the bed. “I’m going to see the doctor to ask about the next session of the chemo. Would you mind watching Adam for a while?” Niall asks as he looks at Harry. 

“Ni! You know you don’t have to ask me for that.” Harry scolds playfully as he replaces Niall’s spot and pulls Adam close in his arms, cuddling the kid. Niall chuckles and nods before he turns and leaves his son with Harry. 

Harry kisses Adam’s temple as they both cuddle on the bed and watches the television and he smiles fondly when he hears Adam’s laugh at some funny parts in the cartoon. Once the cartoon is finishes, Harry feels Adam tilts his head to look at him and Harry raises his eyebrows. 

“Uncle Harry..” Adam calls quietly. 

“Yeah?” Harry replies as he tilts his head down to look at Adam. 

“Would you look after daddy for me?” Adam asks. 

Harry admits that he is quite shock with the sudden question. “You know I always look after your daddy and you also, Adam.” Harry replies. “What’s with the question?” 

Adam shrugs and wraps his little arms around Harry’s torso. “I just don’t want daddy to be alone. I want him to be happy. But now he always seems so sad. I know it is because of me. I don’t want him to be alone when I’m gone.” 

Harry feels his heart breaks as he hears Adam’s words. How come this little kid could be so loving and smart but part of Harry knows it’s the gene that runs in Horan’s family. “Adam, don’t worry about your daddy. He’s a big guy. He got me, Uncle Liam, Aunty Dani, Lou..” 

“We don’t get to see Mr. Lou anymore.” Adam cuts him off and Harry frowns. 

“Why?” He asks. Now come to think of it, he doesn’t seem to remember if Niall had mention about Louis at all since couple of weeks before. 

Adam shrugs. “I’m not sure. But one night, daddy was crying and he didn’t tell me why. Then the next day when Mr. Lou came, daddy was mad at him and daddy wanted him to leave us. Mr. Lou hugged me and told me to be strong but when he wanted to hug daddy, daddy refused. Daddy just let Mr. Lou hugged me and told him to leave after that. Daddy cried in the bathroom after that, I heard him. Then Mr. Lou never comes here again.” Adam tells Harry. 

“Huh.” Harry manages to respond. He doesn’t know what is happening but he knows Louis is going to get some wrath out of him for making Niall cried. Louis should have known that Harry and Liam had made a rule that ‘no-one-is-allowed-to-make-Niall-cry’ and apparently Louis broke that. But why? That’s for Harry to find out later. 

“Uncle Harry, promise me something?” Adam asks as he looks at Harry. 

Harry stares at the big blue eyes that resemble Niall’s so much, it’s uncanny. “What is it, Adam?” 

“Promise me that you’ll look after daddy when I’m gone? Promise that you’ll make him happy?” 

Harry blinks back his tears at the kid’s request and wraps his arms tighter around the kid. “I promise. I swear I’ll make him happy.” 

“Thank you, Uncle Harry.” Adam says as he nuzzles closer to Harry lovingly. 

Harry chokes on his sob. “But remember this, yeah? You’re not going anywhere, okay? You’re going to finish with this treatment and the cells will be dead and then you’ll get better.” Harry assures as he looks at Adam and kisses the kid’s temple. Adam has to get better. He has to. “You’ll be fine. You’ll be just fine.” Harry repeats softly into Adam’s ear. 

 

**

 

“Can’t you guys find a perfect match for him yet?” Niall asks impatiently as he crosses his arms over his chest and stares at the doctor who is sitting in front of him. 

“We’re still trying, Mr. Horan. I’m sorry that we couldn’t find the perfect match at the moment. But chemotherapy can also help fighting the cells in Adam’s body.” The doctor says. 

Niall shakes his head and sighs. “But he’s in pain.” Niall mumbles quietly. 

The doctor looks at the young man in front of him and nods understandingly. He knows how the young man feels. He himself sometimes couldn’t bear to watch the small kid endures the pain of the chemotherapy but that’s the best thing that they can do at the moment. 

Niall shakes his head sadly. “Adam says that he feels nauseous after the treatment.” Niall informs the doctor, looking for an explanation. 

The doctor clears his throat before he starts to speak. “Here is the thing, intensive leukemia chemotherapy has certain side effects, including hair loss, nausea and vomiting, and increased risk for infection or bleeding in the short term, as well as other potential health problems down the line. As your child is treated for leukemia, the cancer treatment team will watch closely for those side effects, Mr. Horan. It might happen after the second or third session of chemotherapy.” The doctor explains. 

Niall reluctantly nods. He wants Adam to get better and he realizes that chemotherapy is a way to treat the cancer but he couldn’t help but feels guilty for putting Adam in pain. But he has to be strong for his kid. 

“What is the possibility for the cells to be all gone after Adam finishes all the sessions?” Niall asks. 

“It depends on the patient. For a small kid like Adam, I might say that the chance is 50-50 giving his immune system is not fully developed yet.” The doctor says frankly but he quickly continues. “But as I said, it depends. Adam seems like a strong kid.” 

Niall nods. “He is.” But Niall just hopes that he is stronger than Adam. 

 

**

 

“Ni..” Harry calls quietly as he throws a glance over Adam who is sleeping at the moment. “Mind to join me to get some fresh air?” Harry asks. 

Niall turns his head and looks at Harry, nodding as he starts to stand up. “Yeah, I might need some too.” Niall says as he leans down to kiss Adam’s forehead. “Sleep tight, baby.” He whispers quietly before he starts to follow Harry’s lead. 

Harry exhales his breath as he can feel the chillness of the night as they sit on the bench at the small park near the hospital. He steals a glance on Niall as he can see his bestfriend is looking at the sky, lost in his own thought. 

“Ni..” Harry starts after few minutes of silence. 

“Hmmm..” Is the only response that comes from Niall’s lips. His eyes are closing as he tried to embrace the calmness of the weather and tries to relax a bit. 

“What’s going on with you and Louis?” That, makes Niall’s eyes snap open. He knows Harry will ask sooner or later. 

“We broke up.” Niall replies shortly. 

Harry frowns. So it’s true. Something had happened between Niall and Louis like Adam told him. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?” Harry asks, slightly hurt over the fact that Niall is keeping thing from him. They used to tell each other everything, hell, at least Harry is. Niall doesn’t seem to do the same, apparently. 

Niall sighs and rubs his hands over his face. “You were on tour, Haz. Plus it’s not really important.” Niall finally says. 

Harry shakes his head. He is having none of it. “That is important too, Ni. We talk everyday on the phone. No wonder you sound so down, I thought it was about Adam.” 

“It was about Adam. It’s always about Adam.” Niall replies defensively as he tilts his head slightly to look at Harry. 

Harry nods. “I know. But, I wish I was there for you, Ni.” Harry admits. He hates seeing Niall being sad. Niall is supposed to be happy and vibrant and full of life and Harry’s heart just can’t take it when Niall is sad. 

“Why did you guys broke up?” Is it because of Adam? Harry wants to continue but he doesn’t. He knows Louis loves Adam too but it just that maybe sometimes people get tired of taking care of sick people, who knows? 

“He cheated on me. With his ex-boyfriend.” Niall replies, emotionless. 

“He what?!” This time Harry turns his head to look properly at Niall and his fist is curls reflectively. Louis is going to die for what he had done. 

“He said it was a drunken mistake. That he was upset that I didn’t tell him about Adam, you remember that night, right? That was the night when he had done that.” Niall says. 

Harry scoffs angrily. “I’m going to kill him.” Harry hisses. 

Niall shakes his head. “Don’t. Wouldn’t want your pretty face of yours to be plastered at the front of the newspaper for murdering, would you?” Niall tries to joke. For him, it was over. Yeah, it hurts but he doesn’t want to dwell on it for too long. He has other thing, namely Adam to make his mind occupy at the moment. 

Harry almost smiles at that but he is angry nonetheless. He closes his eyes and opens it back when he feels Niall pats his arms. He looks at Niall and Niall is smiling at him, sadly but still smiling and Harry swears to God he misses Niall’s smile. He latches himself onto Niall and clutches Niall’s shirt tightly on his back. “I’m so sorry, Niall. I should have been there for you.” Harry says, feeling like he fails Niall as a friend. He is the one who told Niall that Louis was the right guy but apparently he was wrong and look on how Niall ends up? 

Niall nods against Harry’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Haz. You’re here now.” He says and they both pull away but Harry’s arms are still lingers around Niall’s shoulder. 

Harry is about to say something else when suddenly someone greets both of them. “Hi, guys.” Harry turns his head around only to find a familiar guy standing in front of them. “Hi, Zayn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you guys think?


	22. Chapter 22

“Hi, Zayn!” Harry smiles brightly, completely oblivious to the frowns that plastered on Niall’s face. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Niall spits and Harry turns his head, finally realizing the thick tension in the atmosphere. 

“Can I talk to you, Niall? Alone?” Zayn asks, darting his eyes between Niall and Harry, asking for their consents. Harry looks confused, so Zayn figures Niall hadn’t told Harry about him, yet. 

Niall huffs angrily and Harry who is watching the exchange starts to stand up. “I’ll leave you guys to talk.” Harry quickly says and starts to turn away and leave when suddenly Niall grabs his arms. 

“Stay.” Niall says as he stands and looks at Harry, completely ignoring Zayn’s presence at the moment. He is still mad at Zayn and he doesn’t want Harry to leave him alone with the dark-haired lad. 

“Niall, please.” Zayn pleads, his tone desperate and Niall is still refusing to acknowledge him. 

Harry raises his eyebrows and glances at Zayn, sensing that Zayn desperately wants to talk to Niall alone. Eventhough Harry knows whatever Zayn wants to say might have to do with Louis and he is still mad at Louis but Harry can’t help that he has a soft spot for Zayn when he is with Niall. He knows Zayn always meant well with Niall. 

Niall’s eyes go wide as he feels Harry pries off his fingers from his bestfriend’s arms and stares at Harry. “Harry?” 

Harry gives Niall a small smile and pats his shoulder. “I’ll be nearby, yeah? Just talk to him.” Harry says. 

Niall shakes his head, getting furious at his bestfriend. “I don’t want to!” Niall says stubbornly. 

Harry smiles again. “Ni, give him a chance to talk.” Harry says as he pats Niall’s shoulder once more and turns to leave Niall and Zayn alone. 

Niall watches Harry’s back as his bestfriend leaves and grits his teeth. He knows he is being stubborn at the moment but he can’t help it. He was so hurt by Zayn’s action and he wouldn’t have the heart to forgive Zayn just yet. 

“Niall, look at me, please.” Zayn pleads and Niall turns sharply to face Zayn. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Niall sneers. 

 

**

 

“What the fuck do you want?” Zayn knows he flinches a little as he looks at the pure rage in Niall’s eyes. He misses those eyes. Those beautiful eyes that are always sparkling with happiness that made Zayn fell for it at the first time. But at the moment, only rage is filled in those eyes as Niall looks at Zayn and Zayn hates that he is the reason for that. 

“I’m sorry, Niall.” Zayn starts, trying to apologize. 

“For what? For hiding the truth about your cheating bestfriend or for lying to me point blank?” Niall retorts angrily. 

Zayn shakes his head. “For everything. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Niall. It was, you had so much going around you at that moment and I didn’t want you to feel bad.” Zayn explains. “I did it to protect you.” 

Niall feels his blood boils as soon as Zayn finishes. “Protect me? Or to protect Louis?” 

“Niall, don’t be like that. You know what I mean.” Zayn says. 

Niall shakes his head and remains silent, glaring at the empty space besides him, refusing to meet Zayn’s eyes at the moment. Zayn takes a step closer to Niall tentatively and starts to speak again. “He misses you. He knows he had done wrong but he swore it was only a drunken mistake and he felt so bad about it. He is suffering at home, hoping for you to forgive him and take him back.” 

“So? Like I care.” Niall scoffs. “You’re just defending him because he’s your friend.” 

Zayn shakes his head as he smiles sadly when he looks at Niall. Slowly, he puts one arm on Niall’s shoulder and use the other one to tilts Niall’s chin so that they can look at each other’s eyes. “I’m not defending him because he is my friend, Niall. I can see how much he can make you happy. All I want to do is to make you happy, Niall. Hell, I even sacrificed my own feeling when I saw how happy you were with Louis.”

“What..” Niall trails off, confusing by Zayn’s word about sacrificing his own feeling. 

“I was so in love you, Niall.” Zayn admits. “Hell, I _am_ still in love with you.” 

Niall shakes his head and steps back a little. “Don’t do that..” Niall says, begging Zayn to stop talking. Zayn told him that he didn’t mind that he chose Louis, right? So why all of sudden, Zayn wants to confess his own feeling? 

Zayn nods understandingly as Niall looks at him. He knows maybe it’s not the right time but he can’t help it. He leans closer to Niall impulsively, kissing the smaller guy on the lips gently. Niall’s eyes go wide and he is beyond shock to do anything but to stand still and let Zayn kisses him for a few seconds before Zayn pulls away. 

Zayn stares at the shocked guy in front of him and pats his thumb on Niall’s cheek, caressing it gently. “I love you so much, Niall. But I can’t be selfish, can I?” Zayn says and continues without waiting for Niall to reply. “Do whatever makes you happy, Niall. And if it means being with Louis, just let it be. Take him back. People are not perfect. They made mistake and I know Louis had done one but I also know that he loves you with all of his heart. So do I. So just, please be happy, yeah?” Zayn says as he kisses Niall’s forehead before he throws a sad smile, and walks away.

 

**

 

Harry admits that he lets out a big surprise gasps when he sees Zayn leans down to kiss Niall. Not on the cheek but on the lips. The lips. That moment feels too intimate for Harry to watch so he looks away but when he steals a glance at both of them again, Harry sees how shocked Niall is and his protective instinct kicks in. He couldn’t hear what Zayn had said but as he walks closer to them, he hears the last bit of Zayn’s voice, “..please be happy, yeah?” 

Zayn walks pass him and Harry tries to give him a smile. Zayn smiles sadly at Harry and stops walking a bit before he looks at Harry. “Take care of him, yeah? He’s too precious for all of us.” Zayn says and Harry feels himself nods. Niall is really precious to all of them. Zayn seems satisfied with Harry’s answer and nods, before he walks away from the park. 

Harry watches Zayn leaves before he turns to look at his bestfriend who is still unmoving from his position. “Ni?” Harry calls out, concern latches in his tone. 

Niall feels his heart beats rapidly after Zayn kissed him. Zayn had kissed him and Niall didn’t know what to do but let it happened. He was too shocked to do anything when Zayn pulled away and told him to be happy. How could he? He was dumfounded. And he still is. He is still frozen and doesn’t know how to react when he hears Harry’s voice. 

“Ni?” Niall hears Harry calls again and that’s what it takes to break Niall out of his stupor, and the smaller guy starts to blink, and tears stream down his face. “What are they doing? Why are they keep playing with my heart?” Niall asks brokenly as he looks at Harry. 

Harry wraps his arms around Niall once the guy starts to cry. “Shhhh..” He tries to soothe Niall. Harry wants to be mad at both Louis and Zayn but he knows he couldn’t. Especially on Zayn, after what he had witnessed. “They love you, Ni. They do.” 

“But why…” Niall chokes on his sob. Why did Louis hurt him? Why did Zayn hurt him? Or maybe not hurt, but still, Niall doesn’t know how to decipher on his feeling at the moment. Everything is a mess. 

Harry shakes his head slowly. Because they’re an idiot, Harry wants to say but he doesn’t. He just hugs Niall tighter instead. “I love you. Just remember that. I, Harry Styles, love you, and Liam loves you. Dani, your parents, and hell, not to mention Adam, loves you so much Ni.” Harry comforts. 

Niall mumbles something on the crook of Harry’s neck and Harry has to strain his ears to listen. “What’s that?” Harry asks. 

“I think I still love Lou..and then Zayn..and I’m….I’m confused…” Niall mumbles, still hiccupping and Harry lets Niall buries his face further into the crook of his neck. He can feel Niall’s tears wetting his skin and it makes Harry’s heart breaks a little. “Oh, Ni..” Harry trails off sympathetically because what else he can do? You can’t force someone to turn their feelings on and off in a blink of eye.


	23. Chapter 23

Niall watches hopelessly as Adam starts to cry once he looks at himself in the mirror. He didn’t want to give Adam the piece of thing that is now clutches in those small hands but Adam wanted to. But once Adam saw his own face, he bursts out crying and Niall gathers his son into his arms tightly. 

“Shhh, it’s alright baby. Don’t cry.” Niall tries to shush his son and glances over Liam and Danielle who are in the room as well. 

Liam steps forward to the other side of Adam’s bed and pats the kid’s head gently, leaning down to kiss his temple. “Why are you crying, my little champ?” Liam asks, trying to distract Adam from crying too much because he can see how upset Niall is when Adam can’t seem to stop crying. 

“My hair is gone..” Adam wails loudly. 

Liam looks at Niall and sees how his bestfriend is trying his best to console Adam but Adam seems to have none of it. Liam then glances over at Danielle and his wife nods understandingly. “Niall, let me stay with him, yeah?” Danielle asks gently as she pats Niall’s shoulder and gestures for Niall to let her hugs Adam instead. 

“But..” Niall trails off as he looks up at Danielle. He doesn’t want to burden Danielle with the crying kid in his arm but he himself is at loss on what else to do. Adam keeps mumbling that his hair is gone and all Niall’s attempt to calm his down is going nowhere. 

Danielle shakes her head and pries Adam gently from Niall’s grip. “I’ll try to calm him down, yeah? Maybe he needs some woman’s touch instead, you know?” Danielle says gently, without intention to offend Niall or anything but she knows that sometimes kids need their mother instead of their father. Not that Niall doesn’t do a good job by being both but Niall is still a guy and doesn’t have a woman’s grace. 

Niall finally nods, letting Danielle to take over and stands beside his son’s bed. He knows Adam is miserable because of the chemo treatment but he can’t do anything. That is the only way to get Adam to get better and he has to deal with it, eventhough sometimes he couldn’t help but feeling his heart breaks everytime Adam whimpers in pain after the treatment. And the side effects are not pretty either. Adam keeps vomiting and the hair loss is the most obvious thing that happens after the chemo sessions. Niall really tries his best to comfort his son but the thing is taking a toll on him too. 

“Let’s head down to café, shall we?” Liam offers as he steers Niall out from the room and put one of his arms around Niall’s shoulder. Niall is always the smaller one between both of them and Liam knows that is one of the reasons why Niall is like a little brother to him. 

“Li, I’m afraid.” Niall suddenly says on their way to the cafeteria. 

Liam tilts his head to look down at Niall’s face and raises his eyebrow. “Of what?” Liam asks. He thinks he knows the answer by the look of Niall’s face and the way his shoulder sags in defeat. Suddenly, Niall looks _so_ young and Liam’s protectiveness comes sweep in at the full pace. 

“Of Adam. He’s getting more weak, Li.” Niall says and pauses before he continues. “He always vomits and now the hair loss. He’s getting so upset over it. I try my best to act strong for him, but sometimes I’m afraid, Li. What if all of these are not worth it for Adam to get better? What if all of these things would make Adam’s condition worst instead?” Niall voices out his fear as he tilts his head to look at Liam. 

Liam swallows a lump in his throat as he hears the vulnerability in Niall’s voice. “Ni, you know what the doctor had warned us about the effects. But it’s all for good cause so that the cells can be killed and Adam will get better.” Liam assures and wraps his arm tighter around Niall as they stroll down slowly to the cafeteria. 

“I wish I can take away all of his pains.” Niall says quietly and Liam nods understandingly. He knows Niall will. Hell, even he will and Adam is not even his son. So, he pretty knows how Niall’s feeling at the moment. 

“Yeah, but at the moment, you’re doing a great job with him, Ni. You’re the strongest person that I’ve known and Adam seems to have the same trait.” Liam says and smiles at Niall once they sit at one of the tables at the café. “You want anything?” Liam asks as he glances over the counter near their table. 

“I don’t have the appetite.” Niall says as he shakes his head. Truth is, he doesn’t have the urge to eat lately. Everything is taking a toll on him and food is not really that comes first in his mind with the recent events that are happening in his life. 

Liam frowns as he hears Niall’s answer and looks over his bestfriend. “Ni, don’t be like that. Just eat some, yeah? You’ve to be healthy to take care of Adam, okay?” Liam says, trying to play the guilty card and smiles in satisfaction when Niall is finally nods. He knows Niall seems to dodge the foods lately and Liam really feels worried about that. He doesn’t want Niall to get sick too. He understands that Niall is getting stressed and probably depressed and Liam feels like it’s his job to take care of Niall’s welfare. 

“Babe, how’s it going?” Liam asks as soon as he calls Danielle’s phone while he’s queuing at the food line. 

“He’s still crying, Li. He is so upset over his hair.” Danielle’s voice is heard over the other end of the line and Liam sighs. He hates seeing Adam cries and hearing that, it makes his heart breaks. He glances over to look at Niall and sees how Niall looks so _lost_ that it makes his heart clenches. 

“Dani, how do you feel if I do something that you don’t expect me to do?” 

 

**

 

Niall enters the hospital room alone as Liam told him that he needed to be somewhere else after they ate and will be back to the room later. Slowly, Niall closes the door and steps towards Adam’s bed. Adam seems to stop crying but the sniffling could still be heard. 

“Hi, baby.” Niall greets as soon as he sits at the edge of the bed while Danielle is sitting down on the chair besides the bed. 

“Daddy..” Adam calls out and snuggles towards Niall and Niall kisses his son’s temple gently. 

“Yes baby?” 

Adam extends his little hand to tug at Niall’s blonde hair and suddenly starts to cry again. “I don’t have a hair like you anymore.” He wails and Niall blinks his tears back. 

“Hey, we talked about this right? You’re still beautiful. And I still love you.” Niall says and wipes Adam’s tears on his little cheeks. 

“But I can’t have the same hair colour as you anymore. You won’t love me cause we’re not the same anymore.” Adam rambles and Niall has to swallow a big lump in his throat and looks over at Danielle who is apparently crying over Adam’s little rant. 

“Adam, it’s not working like that. You see, Aunty Danni and I don’t have the same hair colour but we still love each other.” Niall tries to explain to his son. He feels heartbroken when he knows that Adam is upset over the hair because he is afraid that their hairs won’t be the same anymore and Niall would stop love him. That makes Niall realizes that Adam is still a little kid who still has an innocent mind and thought and not as strong as he would like to portray sometimes. 

Niall is about to say something else when suddenly Liam enters the room and everyone gasps in shock, even Danielle. 

Liam chuckles when he sees the expression on three people in front of him. Niall looks like he is choking a fish, Danielle is staring at him like she doesn’t recognize her husband and Adam just looks at him delightedly. 

“You lost your hair!” Adam exclaims excitedly and Liam nods and walks towards the little kid. 

“Yes! Now, we’re the same, aren’t we? You look how handsome I am with my new hair?” Liam says with a big grin as he lets Adam to touch his new haircut. 

Adam nods and grins as he pats Liam’s head. “It looks cool!” he exclaims, suddenly feeling better about losing his hair. 

“Yeah, so don’t worry about your hair yeah? You’ll be handsome like me.” Liam says and smiles in satisfaction when Adam hugs him. He lets Adam plays with his head for few minutes before the kid is finally succumbs to sleep and once Adam closes his eyes, Liam turns to look at the other people in the room.

Liam smiles again as he looks at Danielle and Niall who are still gaping at his new look. “Is there something wrong?” Liam teases and it breaks both of them out of their stupors. Danielle reaches down to her husband first and kisses him on the lips. “You look sexy.” She whispers quietly only for Liam to hear and Liam can feel his cheeks flushed. When Danielle pulls away, Liam looks at Niall and raises his eyebrows. “Ni?” 

Niall blinks his eyes again as soon as he gets over the shock of Liam’s new haircut. Or maybe just the cut because all of Liam’s hair are gone. He couldn’t comprehend on what he is feeling at the moment because he heard what Liam had said to Adam and he knows what Liam is trying to do here. Liam is trying to make Adam feels better about losing his hair and Niall is so touched by the gesture. “Li..” Niall trails off, still speechless because what else he could say? Liam is a truly one of the greatest friends he ever had. So he does what he does best. He steps forward to hug Liam and buries his head on Liam’s shoulder.

“My God, Liam. Thanks so much, Li. Thank you very much for being such a great friend.” Niall’s voice is muffle and shaky as chokes on his words and he feels Liam hugs him in return. 

“It’s okay. We’re all in this together okay? You’re not alone.” Liam says and rubs Niall’s back comfortingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have one more chapter left in this story before I would post another chapters for the endings. Why ending(s)? Cause I've drafted three different endings and I'll leave it to you guys to choose which one you like the best to read. (It's cause I can't choose the endgame. *sigh*)


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the last chapter before the ending(s). I've decided to post all of the possible endings and you guys can choose from the chapter index. I'll be putting up the chapter title for each ending so that you can choose which one that you would like to read. But before that, just enjoy this chapter :) xx

Louis waits until the car is pulled into the front porch and two figures comes out from the car and enters the house. Louis watches on how two of them walks silently and he swallows his tears when he sees _him._ He misses Niall. A lot. The last time he saw his ex-boyfriend, Niall didn’t even let Louis to hug him. It stung, but Louis understood. Louis was totally miserable after the breakup and not only he destroyed his relationship with Niall, he also ruined his friendship with Zayn as well. Though it might not have been spoken between them, Louis knows Zayn is still in love with Niall. Louis just didn’t know how he didn’t realized that Zayn is still in love with Niall all this while. He was most probably too caught up in his own world with Niall that he had been a shitty friend to Zayn. Up until he made a mistake with Stan. Zayn had warned him but Louis didn’t listen and look how it ends up. Louis sighs and takes a final look of himself on the rearview mirror before he walks out from his car and strides toward the familiar house. 

Louis rings the doorbell twice before the door is opens and the familiar blue eyes lad is appear in front of him. 

“Ni..” Louis trails off nervously as soon as he sees Niall. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Niall snaps, ignoring the hurt looks across Louis’s face and starts to close the door. 

Louis steps closer and puts his feet at the ajar door, not letting Niall to shut him out. “Niall, please. I need to talk to you.” Louis pleads. 

Niall shakes his head and tries to close the door again. “There’s nothing to talk about. I thought I made it clear the last time we met.” Niall scoffs. He doesn’t want to be bitter but he is tired and cranky and Louis’s presence doesn’t really makes him happy. Not anymore. 

“Niall, please. Please, I just…” Louis starts again, this time looking straight into Niall’s eyes, begging for his ex-boyfriend to listen to him. “I miss you. And I still love you.” He says with such finality that it makes Niall’s breath hitches. 

Niall shakes his head and tries to avoid Louis’s stares because God damn it, Louis can be so irresistible sometimes. But he won’t falls for that again. He just can’t bare of the thought of being hurting by Louis again. When Louis doesn’t seem like he wants to bulge and leaves, Niall finally sighs dejectedly and opens the door, stepping to the front porch, facing Louis and crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Now, talk. I’ll give you five minutes.” Niall says. 

Louis nods and takes a moment to look at the person in front of him. Niall looks skinny compared to the last time that Louis had seen him and the dark bags under Niall’s eyes are really making him looks paler than he always does. Louis knows it is because Niall is too busy looking after Adam and he knows that part of him is guilty too for making Niall upset. But he is willing to fix that. 

“Niall, like I told you. I am so sorry about what I’ve done. I paid the price for it. A really big price because I lost you over it. I am ashamed for myself for everything that had happened but I’m willing to change that. I’m really hoping that you could give me a second chance. Let’s start over. I really love you, Niall. All this time, you’re the only one that I’ve ever think about. You’re the only one that I miss and long to talk to.”

“Louis..” Niall sighs and rubs his face tiredly. “We talked about this. I can’t. Yes, I know it’s hard to move on but I can’t bear it again.” 

“I’m still in love with you, Ni. And I have a feeling that you’re still in love with me too.” 

Niall shakes his head and laughs humorlessly. “Don’t be so fucking full of yourself, Tomlinson.” 

Louis takes a step closer and instinctively puts his hands on Niall’s face, tilting the shocked blonde guy’s face and he can feels both of their breathes mingle. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t love me anymore. And if you can say that, I’ll leave you alone. Forever.” 

Niall swears his heart is beating rapidly the moment Louis touches his face and when their eyes meet. Their faces are so close to each other that Niall feels like he is brought back to his past, when they were always kissing happily. But that was all in the past. Before Louis had hurt him. And looking at Louis now, Niall knows part of him is still loving the older lad but he can’t crumbles now. He has his own heart to protect. But he is not sure if he wants Louis to be out of his life forever. When does his life becomes so complicated? 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Harry’s mad voice makes both Louis and Niall jump out and breaks Niall’s out of his stupor. 

“Stay out of this, Harry.” Louis hisses, suddenly annoyed that Harry is breaking his attempt to win Niall over. 

Harry shakes his head angrily as he steps aside Niall, trying to pull Niall away from Louis’s reach. Louis sees this and suddenly he snaps. 

“I’m trying to talk to Niall. Alone. So, if you please leave us.” Louis says, gritting his teeth angrily when Harry refuses to do so. 

“I’m not going to leave my bestfriend with someone who had broken his heart, alone.” Harry replies stubbornly. 

Louis scoffs angrily and ignores Harry, staring to Niall instead and tries to grab Niall’s arms, but Harry wouldn’t let him. “What the fuck, Harry?” Louis snarls and bats away Harry’s hand that stopping him to reach Niall. 

“I won’t let you touch him. Please, just leave.” Harry says. 

Louis shakes his head stubbornly. “Well, I don’t want to. What are you going to do about it?” Louis challenges. 

“If you haven’t remember, I didn’t even punched you on the face yet for cheating on my bestfriend so you better leave before I’d do that.” Harry warns but Louis is having none of it. 

Niall watches the exchange worriedly and starts to pipe in. “Guys, knock it off.” Niall pleads quietly but Louis and Harry don’t seem to hear it. 

Louis is getting fed up with Harry’s attitude Harry is getting annoyed by the way Louis seems to not listen to his warning and before they know it, both of them starts to throw punches at each other. 

“What the fuck! Guys! Stop it!” Niall shrills, trying to break the fight and he finally manages to grab Harry’s waist and pulls his bestfriend away from Louis. 

Louis glares at Harry and tries to advance on the curly-haired lad again when suddenly Niall’s angry voice is boomed throughout the front porch. “What the hell were you guys thinking?!” Niall yells angrily as he stands between the two people that are important in his life. 

“He is the one who started it.” Louis snarls and Niall shakes his head.   
“Just leave, Louis. Please, you’re making a scene here.” Niall says. 

Louis feels his blood boils as Niall seems to take Harry’s side and before his brains can think, his mouth opens first. “What? Not just Zayn, but Harry too? I thought I was the only one who slept around but it seems like you yourself are enjoying being a slut too.” He snaps and he only has a moment to realize that he had made a huge mistake because of his big mouth and stupidity when he feels a sting on his right cheek and the way Niall looks at him. Not just angry but hurt and Louis knows he screwed over his chance to be with Niall again. 

“Leave. Now.” Niall’s voice is quiet but Louis hears him anyway. He shakes his head when he sees that he had made Niall upset. Once again. “I’m so sorry, Niall.” Louis says before he turns away and leaves. 

Niall watches as Louis leaves and feels his own heart is bursting through his ribcage. He feels so surreal. He can feel his hand is still shaking after he slapped Louis but what hurts the most is Louis’s words. He tries to wrap his mind around of all of the things that had happened but suddenly he feels suffocated and lightheaded. The last thing that he hears is Harry’s alarming voice before his world is turning black. 

**

Harry is grateful for his long legs when he suddenly jumps over to catch Niall’s limp body as soon as his bestfriend starts to fall down. He gently lays Niall across his lap and brushes Niall’s bang, trying to feel for temperature on his forehead. 

“Damn it, Ni.” Harry curses quietly as he can feel that Niall’s forehead is quiet warm and Niall is looking very pale. Slowly, Harry starts to lift up his smaller friend and scoops him up, carrying him to the nearest bedroom at their house. Once he tucks Niall in, he fishes out his cellphone to call the doctor. 

It takes a good half an hour before the doctor arrives and Harry can finally breathe in relief when the doctor gives his verdict. The doctor alarms Harry about the lack of glucose in Niall’s body and slightly high blood pressure, probably due to stressed. Harry just nods and thanks the doctor before he leaves and Harry takes a seat besides Niall again. 

“Why don’t you take care of yourself, Ni?” Harry whispers sadly as he stares at Niall’s face.

**

Niall feels his head hurts as soon as he tries to open his eyes. He inhales deeply before he finally opens his eyes and looks around. He is in his guest room and he frowns in confusion. 

“You passed out at the front porch. I had to carry you here cause it’s the closest room that I can get.” Niall turns his head slightly to look at the owner of the voice. 

“Thanks.” He mumbles quietly. 

“Don’t thank me yet. You’ll have to bear with me because I’m mad at you at the moment.” Harry says sternly as he looks at Niall. 

“Huh?” Niall manages to say confusingly. 

“Why don’t you take care of yourself, Ni? You lost weight, the doctor said you’ve lack of glucose in your body, means that you’re not properly eating and all.” Harry says, his eyes dagger through Niall’s face, implying that he is mad at his friend for neglecting his health. 

“I’ve lot in my plate, Haz.” Niall mumbles quietly and avoids an eye contact with Harry. He realizes that he is neglecting his healthcare lately but he just doesn’t have the appetite to eat and with the stresses…only the thought of it makes Niall feels nauseous. 

“I know that, Ni. But you’ve to think for yourself too. For Adam. What do you think he’ll say if he finds out that you’re not taking care of yourself?” Harry says. 

Niall swallows back the big lump in his throat when he hears the angry tone in Harry’s voice. “Sorry.” Niall apologizes quietly. “It seems all I’ve done lately is making everyone mad at me.” He continues. 

“Ni..” Harry calls out in a softer tone after he hears Niall’s quiet voice. He doesn’t mean to get mad at Niall. “I’m just worried about you, Ni. I don’t want you to get yourself stressed out.” Harry explains as he reaches down to sit beside Niall on the bed and pull Niall’s head gently on his lap. Slowly, Harry starts to massage Niall’s temple, making the older lad sighs in contentment. 

“You’re not superman, Ni. We are all here to help you, you know. You’re not in this alone. We’re all here for you and Adam, don’t you ever forget that.” Harry says. 

“Thanks, Haz. You guys don’t know how much I really appreciate it. I don’t know how to repay all of you for all the things that you guys had done for me.” 

Harry smiles and shakes his head, tilting down to look at Niall’s face. “You just have to take care of yourself, Ni. That’s all we ever want from you.” 

Niall returns the smile and nods at Harry. “Okay, I’ll try.” 

**

Niall sighs for the umpteenth times as he listens to the sound of his mother’s voice at the other end of the phone. Since the last time he had passed out a week before, everyone had been keeping him under their scrutiny that sometimes it makes Niall tugs his hair out of frustration. 

“Yes, mum. I’m fine.” Niall replies shortly as one of his hands is fiddles through the remote control to find any interesting channel to watch while listening to his mom’s nag. “Yes, I had eaten. They forced me to eat before they went out.” Niall continues, referring to they as Harry and Liam who had literally watching him eating, it was downright freaky. 

Niall glances at the clock on the wall and starts to stand up. “Mom, I’ve got to go. It’s my turn stay with Adam tonight.” Niall says and after saying his goodbye and lots of promises to take care of himself to his mom, Niall hangs up. He is about to walk out from the living room when his phone rings again. 

Niall picks the phone up without even looking at the caller ID. “Mum, I told you I’m..”

“Ni..” Apparently it’s not his mom but Harry’s voice is heard. Niall frowns as soon as he hears the seriousness in Harry’s tone. 

“Haz, what is it?” Niall asks as he can feel his blood running cold and something bad is happening, he just can feel it. 

Niall, without wasting any time, starts to jog through the front door and grabs his car’s key. He doesn’t care about putting up his jacket for the cold, he just wants to reach the hospital because Harry is not speaking anymore and Niall can only hears some murmurs before Liam’s voice is replacing Harry. 

“Ni, are you in the car right now?” Liam asks. 

“I’m about to start driving.” Niall replies as soon as he sits inside his car and starts the engine. The tires screech as he reverses and he swears the entire neighborhood can hear him. 

“Okay, Ni. Just calm down, okay?” Liam speaks up and Niall shakes his head eventhough he knows Liam can’t see him. 

“What is it, Li? Tell me!” Niall urges as he steps further on his pedal, trying to reach the hospital as soon as he can. 

Niall hears Liam’s voice breaks. “Ni, Adam…..”


	25. Ending 1 (Narry)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is Ending 1 (Narry). The other two endings can be found by the chapter index. Enjoy xx

Niall runs towards Adam’s hospital room as soon as he parks his car. He ignores all the warning and angry voices from the nurses as he passes through the hallway. He doesn’t care, he just wants to reach his son as soon as possible. 

“Harry? Liam?” Niall calls out, gasping for breath as soon as he spots his friends, standing outside Adam’s room. “Why are you guys out here?” 

Harry turns to face his bestfriend and pulls Niall into his hug. “Ni, Adam…he was suffocated and the doctor is trying to help him..” Harry starts to explain. 

“I want to see him!” Niall says as he tries to wriggle out from Harry’s grip. 

“Ni, you can’t. They’re trying their best to save him.” Liam pipes in, holding Niall tightly as Niall tries to run into the room. 

Niall can feel his spirit crumbles as he looks at the closed door. He knows Liam and Harry are right, but he couldn’t help that he really wants to see his son so badly at the moment. Please God, please save Adam, Niall prays silently. 

Liam guides Niall to sit at the chairs near the room, waiting for the doctor to come out. He throws a worried glance at Harry as Niall slumps back to the chair and closes his eyes. Liam and Harry were sitting with Adam when suddenly the kid woke up, coughing like mad and suffocated on his breath. It set Liam and Harry into panic as they frantically called for the nurse and doctor. They were ushered out of the room ever since and decided to call Niall. And they had been waiting for the news until Niall arrived. 

“Mr. Horan.” Niall snaps his eyes open upon the call of his name and he springs out of his seat. He takes a look at the doctor and as the doctor looks at him sympathetically, Niall feels his heart stops beating. “No..no..no…” Niall mumbles miserably as he shakes his head. 

“I’m sorry. We’ve done everything to save him but he didn’t make it.” The doctor apologizes. 

Niall feels his head spinning as the doctor confirms the news. And for the second time of the month, Niall’s world turns to black. 

 

**

 

Harry hovers over Niall who is lying silently on his bed and doesn’t even acknowledge on Harry’s presence in his bedroom. Harry sighs as he glances at the untouched foods on the tray besides Niall’s bed. “Ni, how long you’re going to be like this?” Harry asks quietly as he looks at Niall sadly. 

Harry remembers when Niall had fainted due to the news by the doctor. Adam was dead. And Harry swore he saw Niall was dead along with his son at the moment. When Niall woke up, he didn’t even cried but he went silent. Silent and numb and Harry knew it was from shock but it got everyone worried. Harry thought it would be a day thing or maybe up until Adam’s funeral but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Niall seems to fall into a deep depression and he won’t talk to anyone, not even a word. And Harry and Liam can only watch with tearful eyes as Niall leaned down to kiss Adam’s still form for the last time before his casket was closed and lowered down into the ground. It was heartbreaking and all of them were crying. Except for Niall. Niall just stared blankly at the cemetery and let people guided him to leave. 

And a week later, Niall is still cooping in his room, refusing to move and eat and for all Harry knows, Niall seems like he refuses to live anymore. 

 

**

 

“That’s it!” Harry barges through Niall’s bedroom door and Liam is trailing behind him. “Get up!” Harry raises his voice as he pulls out Niall’s blanket and pulling Niall to sit up. Niall seems so surprised at Harry’s sudden outburst and doesn’t even have time to response when Harry and Liam suddenly hoist him up towards the bathroom and dumps him into the bathtub, with his clothes on. 

“What the hell are you guys doing?!” Niall yells as soon as water is thrown all over him by Harry and Liam. 

“Oh, so now you’re talking? Great! If only I know that, I would throw you in this tub way before today!” Harry says sternly. 

Niall makes an attempt to get up and leave but Liam pushes him back down, glaring at him. “Pull yourself together, Niall! How long would you lie down on your bed like you have nothing else to live for, huh?”

Niall grits his teeth angrily. “My son died. I think I’m allowed to mourn about that. And it’s none of your business if I want to die like him too!” 

At Niall’s words, Harry steps forward and slaps him on the face, hard. Niall’s eyes go wide as he stares unbelievingly at Harry. “Don’t you dare to talk like that again! I know he is your son but we love him too! Everyone is feeling the same loss as you and yet you’re the most selfish! We’re mourning too but on top of that, we’ve to worry about you for every second because you are acting like a selfish prick! You think we want to go on like usual without Adam?! No, we don’t. But you don’t see us lying on our bed for weeks, wallowing in self-pity, do you?! We gave you time, Ni, and you’re still refusing to move on, not even the slightest!” 

“But he _**is**_ my son!” 

“I know. Everyone knows that. So if he is really your son, Ni, you sure as hell knew him. Do you think this is what he wants from you?” Harry says again, staring right into Niall’s eyes and eventhough his own heart is breaking when a tear starts to slip from those blue eyes, Harry knows that is what Niall needs at the moment. There is no way Niall can keep bottling up his emotions alone. 

“No…” Niall mumbles miserably at Harry’s question. It hits him hard. Adam always told him to be happy after he’s gone but Niall doesn’t even remember that. Not until Harry had brought it up. He feels all of the whirlwind of emotions come crushing down at once and he doesn’t even realize that he starts to cry his heart out until he feels strong arms stroking his back and holding him close. 

“What do you want me to do?! It hurts so bad!” Niall whimpers. 

“It’s okay, Ni. We’re in this together. We’re always beside you, Ni.” Liam soothes as he leans down to kiss Niall’s temple and starts to stand up. He glances at Harry before he walks out, “take care of him, yeah?” and Harry nods. 

Harry wraps his arms tighter around Niall as the smaller guy buries his head on Harry’s chest. “It hurts, Harry.” Niall says, crying over his loss. 

“I know, Ni.” Harry whispers quietly as he can feel his own eyes wet with tears hearing the broken voice of Niall. 

“Please make it stops…please…” Niall pleads brokenly. 

Harry wraps his arms tighter around Niall. “Just let it all out, Niall. It’ll be alright. I’ll help you to make it stops. You’ll feel better.” Harry repeats softly into Niall’s hair, letting the other guy breaks down on him. 

 

**

 

“They love you!” Harry exclaims excitedly as soon as Niall enters the backstage and releases breathe of relief after his performance. Niall couldn’t believe that this is his life now. When he was trying to move on after Adam’s death, Harry had offered him to tour with him as an opening act. Niall refused at first because he was not a singer but Harry and Liam convinced him that he had a great voice and somehow, he recalled that Adam had told him the same thing too. When Harry’s management agreed and offered the chance to Niall, he finally agreed to try and he started to tour with Harry ever since. 

“Thank you, Haz. For everything.” Niall says as he hugs Harry and as soon as they pull away, they both smile at each other beamingly. 

“Told you, you’ve a great voice. And the stage presence. It’s like you’re natural at this.” Harry says excitedly. He is ecstatic because he now can tour with his bestfriend, and not going to be bored like he used to when he toured alone before. Plus, Harry can help Niall to move on after Adam. It’s not that Harry wants Niall to forget his son, but Harry wants Niall to cherish for every happy moments that he had with Adam instead of the sad ones. 

 

**

 

 _ ****_

 _ **THREE YEARS LATER……..**_

 

“Ni, I want to tell you something.” Harry starts nervously as he stares at Niall who is holding the toddler in his hand. Harry throws a smile at the sight. He has a son. He just couldn’t believe it at first when someone told him that he had made a girl pregnant two years ago and after several months of DNA test and all, it was finally confirmed that the little boy is his and the mother didn’t want to do anything with the baby, leaving Harry to take care of his son who he named as Luke. And Niall was beside him all the time. Up until the point that Harry realizes something that he couldn’t pinpoint beforehand. 

Niall tilts up to look at Harry and smiles. “What do you want to tell me?” He asks as he puts down the sleeping kid into his crib. The kid reminds him so much of Adam. But with curly haired like Harry, of course. 

Harry nods for Niall to follow him to the living room and as they both stand to face each other, Harry takes a deep breath before he starts to speak. 

“I’m..shit..I’m…” Harry trails off as he stares at the wide blue eyes in front of him. He doesn’t remember when but somehow, those eyes are haunting him in his dreams now. 

“Haz, relax. What’s going on?” Niall asks as he steps closer to Harry. 

“I’m in love with you, Niall.” Harry blurts out and Niall stops dead in his track. 

“What?” Niall asks as he seems like he cannot understand of what Harry had said to him. 

Harry suddenly finds courage to speak up as he steps forward and cups Niall’s face in his hands, his thumbs stroking Niall’s cheeks. “I’m in love with you, Niall. I don’t know when but I know that I can’t stop thinking about you and you always make me happy and I love you. I can list thousands of reasons for that but one thing that I want you to know that, the reasons I love you, it’s not something that you can see in the mirror, Niall James Horan.” 

“Harry…but I thought…I thought you like…” Niall stammers. 

“You thought I like girls? Yes, I did but I always know that somehow I like boys too, you know. I just pushed aside the feeling because I wasn’t brave like you. And all of this time, I thought that I love you as my bestfriend but the truth is, I always love you more than that, Ni. I was just coward to act upon it. I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship. I’d rather watched you be happy with someone else rather than losing you completely because of my feeling.” 

“Harry..” 

“No, let me finish, yeah?” Harry cuts in and pauses. “But now, I think I’m ready to fight for it. For my happiness. With you.” 

Niall feels a lone tear slips out from his eyes as Harry finishes with his speech. He doesn’t know how he feels at the moment. 

“I…I don’t know what to say.” Niall admits. He loves Harry, really. But is he _in_ love with Harry? He’s not sure. 

Harry smiles understandingly and leans down to kiss Niall’s forehead. “You don’t have to say anything at the moment, Niall. I just want to tell you how I feel. It’s okay if you don’t love me now, but I’m going to make sure you’ll fall in love with me as time goes by. I’m gonna win your heart over, Niall James Horan.” Harry says and pecks Niall’s cheeks before he turns and leaves Niall standing alone in the living room, wondering what in the world had just happened. 

 

**

 

Turns out, it doesn’t take much time to make Niall fall in love with Harry. After Harry confessed his feelings to Niall, the Irish lad seems to be more aware of Harry’s presence around him. The way Harry smiles at him, the beautiful eyes of Harry when he stares at Niall lovingly, the way Harry wraps his arms around Niall protectively, and all of the little things that Niall had never noticed before. Sometimes Harry makes him a breakfast in bed and Niall couldn’t be happier as both of them eat together on Niall’s bed and somehow it comes to the point when Niall is hoping that it will be a daily thing for them. 

“Harry..” Niall calls out as he tilts his head to look up at Harry. This is one of the things that Niall likes about them, Harry likes to cuddle and Niall is always looking forward to be in Harry’s arms. 

“Yes?” Harry replies. 

“I think..I love you too…” Niall admits shyly as he can feel his heart beats faster and warmth on his cheeks. 

Harry’s eyes go wide and he looks down to see Niall’s red face and he smiles adorably at the sight. “You really mean that?” Harry asks and when Niall nods shyly, Harry does the thing that he wants to do for a long time ago. 

Niall lets out a tiny gasps of surprise as soon as Harry’s lips is attached to his own and before he knows it, he returns the kiss passionately. They pull away briefly and shift their position on the couch and curls up together, with their arms around each other’s waist and their lips connecting again. 

 

**

 

“As you all know, now I’m currently touring with my duet partner..” Harry speaks into his microphone and the crowds cheer. “..which also happens to be my boyfriend..” He continues and the crowds cheer louder than before. “..and today he’s going to sing a special song..” The cheers don’t stop and Harry smiles and starts to speak up again. “..this is it, Niall Horan!” Harry presents and points out to Niall who is walking to the center of the stage with his guitar and Harry gives a peck on Niall’s lips before he steps out to the side of the stage, watching as his boyfriend starts to speak up into his microphone. 

“Thanks to my lovely boyfriend, Harry for the sweet introduction.” Niall says and Harry lets out a chuckle. The time like this that makes Harry falls in love with Niall more and more everyday. Being with Niall is so easy. No drama, straightforward and fun. When they first came out to the public, they received backlashes, of course but most of the people who love them didn’t really mind about it and supported them thoroughly. 

Niall looks out at the crowd in front of him and smiles. He takes a seat on the stool and adjusted his mic stand and guitar straps before he speaks up again. “Not many people know this but I had a son but he died because of leukemia.” Niall starts and the crowd goes silent. “His name is Adam and I loved him so much. When I lost him, I lost myself too. I was depressed and felt like I wanted to die. Luckily, I had my family and friends to keep me sane. They helped me a lot. Especially Harry.” Niall continues as he glances at his boyfriend and smiles, nodding for Harry to come to sit beside him. Harry shakes his head and gestures for Niall to continue. Niall smiles and looks at the crowd again. “He was my rock, and he still is. And so we fell for each other and I’m glad we did. Because I couldn’t ask for the greatest boyfriend ever.” Niall says and the crowd cheers. Niall clears his throat before he speaks up again. “And for Adam, I know you’re looking down at me from heaven, I just want you to know that I always love you. I know we have Luke in our life now but he is not going to replace you in our hearts. And you always told me to be happy after you’re gone and I’m happy now, son. ” Niall says and starts to strum his guitar. “So, I would like to dedicate this song to my son, Adam. Because at the end of the day, Adam, you’re always gonna be my baby.” 

Harry wipes his tears as Niall finishes with his speeches and steps forward to be beside Niall. He kisses Niall briefly before he pulls away. “I’m proud of you.” Harry says and Niall smiles at him. “Now, sing. You’ve a crowd waiting for your beautiful voice.” Harry continues and Niall chuckles. 

“And Adam too.” Niall says and Harry nods. “Yeah, and our Adam too.” 

 

_We were as one baby.._  
For a moment in time..  
And it seemed everlasting..  
That you would always be mine.. 

_Now you want to be free.._  
So I'm letting you fly..  
Cause I know in my heart baby..  
Our love will never die, no.. 

_You'll always be a part of me.._  
I'm a part of you indefinitely..  
Don't you know you can't escape me..  
cause you'll always be my baby.. 

_I ain't gonna cry no.._  
And I won't beg you to stay..  
If you're destined to leave..  
I will not stand in your way.. 

_You'll always be a part of me.._  
I'm part of you indefinitely..  
Don't you know you can't escape me..  
Cause you'll always be my baby.. 

_You’re always gonna be my baby.._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone that had been reading this story. :) Thanks for all the kudos and comments. I'm still trying to improve my writing skills so feel free to check out my other stories too. Love you guys, xx


	26. Ending 2 (Ziall)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is Ending 2 (Ziall). The other two endings can be found by the chapter index. Enjoy xx

Niall runs towards Adam’s hospital room as soon as he parks his car. He ignores all the warning and angry voices from the nurses as he passes through the hallway. He doesn’t care, he just wants to reach his son as soon as possible. 

“Harry? Liam?” Niall calls out, gasping for breath as soon as he spots his friends, standing outside Adam’s room. “Why are you guys out here?” 

Harry turns to face his bestfriend and pulls Niall into his hug. “Ni, Adam…he was suffocated and the doctor is trying to help him..” Harry starts to explain. 

“I want to see him!” Niall says as he tries to wriggle out from Harry’s grip. 

“Ni, you can’t. They’re trying their best to save him.” Liam pipes in, holding Niall tightly as Niall tries to run into the room. 

Niall can feel his spirit crumbles as he looks at the closed door. He knows Liam and Harry are right, but he couldn’t help that he really wants to see his son so badly at the moment. Please God, please save Adam, Niall prays silently. 

Liam guides Niall to sit at the chairs near the room, waiting for the doctor to come out. He throws a worried glance at Harry as Niall slumps back to the chair and closes his eyes. Liam and Harry were sitting with Adam when suddenly the kid woke up, coughing like mad and suffocated on his breath. It set Liam and Harry into panic as they frantically called for the nurse and doctor. They were ushered out of the room ever since and decided to call Niall. And they had been waiting for the news until Niall arrived. 

“Mr. Horan.” Niall snaps his eyes open upon the call of his name and he springs out of his seat. He takes a look at the doctor and as the doctor looks at him, Niall can feel his heart is bursting out of nervousness. The face of the doctor seems indifference. 

“Adam had some trouble with his breathing earlier but we managed to fix it.” The doctor says. “And one of my nurses had informed me that we’ve found a donor for Adam.” He continues. 

Niall feels his head spinning as the doctor confirms the news. “Who…” Niall trails off, his question lingers in his mouth. He is too shock to react. 

“The donor wants to remain anonymous. But all the papers had been already signed, except on your behalf. So you can follow me now to sign for the release letter and we can start the surgery as soon as we can.” The doctor says and Niall nods, glancing back at Liam and Harry who nod as well, gesturing him to follow the doctor. 

“Holy shit..” Harry curses as soon as Niall is out from their sight. Liam pats Harry’s shoulder gently. “I know, Hazza.” Liam says. Both of them were expecting the worse but turns out, they were wrong. They thought Adam was gone but thank God he didn’t. Once they got over their shock for the turns of event that had happened, they start to walk towards the doctor’s room. 

Harry and Liam are engrossed in their thoughts when suddenly they bump into someone at the hallway. Both of them gasp as they see the person, wearing the hospital gown and the person smiles at them. 

“What are you doing here?” Liam asks, as he looks at the healthy person in front of him. The person does look healthy and nothing is wrong so what’s with the hospital clothes? 

The person sighs nervously as he looks at both Liam and Harry. “Can you guys keep a secret?” 

 

**

 

 _ ****_

 _ **A YEAR LATER……..**_

 

The front bell rings as customer enters the cafe and Niall turns around to greet the customer. “Welcome to…” Niall’s smile turns to frowns as he looks at the person who now is standing in front of his eyes. “..Zayn…” 

“Hi, Ni.” Zayn smiles widely. “Long time no see.” 

Niall doesn’t get the chance to speak up again when suddenly Liam pipes in and goes to hug Zayn warmly. “Zayn! It’s been a long time.” Liam greets excitedly as soon as he pulls away. Niall raises his eyebrows confusingly as he looks at both of them. Since when Liam is best friend with Zayn?

Zayn smiles again as he looks at Niall and Liam. “Fancy to hang out with me for a while?” He asks as he looks at Niall. 

Niall is about to shake his head but before he has a chance to decline Zayn’s offer, Liam answers on behalf of him. “Of course he wants to.” 

“But..” Niall starts to speak up as he glances around the café and Liam seems to understand and nods. “No worry, there’s not many customers today, anyway. Plus, Danni will come later and she can help if I can’t handle it alone.” Liam says. 

Niall tries to talk again because one: he is mad Zayn, still and two: he is mad at Zayn. And he doesn’t want to hang out with Zayn, thank you very much. But he doesn’t have a chance to say anything as Liam pushes him towards Zayn and waves at them like parents sending their kids off to school and Niall sighs as he starts to follow Zayn out of the café. 

“Nothing much has changed, yeah?” Zayn starts as soon as they reach the nearest park and sit on the bench. 

Niall only hums to response to that and Zayn turns his head to look at the guy besides him. Niall looks the same as Zayn can remember and it makes Zayn’s heart clenches. He misses Niall so much. 

“Are you still mad at me?” Zayn asks. 

“What do you expect?” Niall snaps, harsher than he intends to and when Zayn flinches, Niall sighs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap like that.” He apologizes. 

“It’s okay. I understand if you’re mad at me. I deserve that.” 

Niall snorts. “Of course you deserve it! The last I saw you was when you confessed that you loved me and suddenly you disappeared. For like what, a year? Hell, I might not in love with you before but you were still my friend and I got worried but no, you didn’t even told me where the hell that you went!” 

Zayn nods as he turns to give his full attention to Niall. “I know. I’m so sorry about that, Niall. I just need to escape. So I just went with the spur of a moment and went around the globe. I thought it’ll make me forget or something but I was wrong. Turns out, my heart is always pointing out to one place in this world which is where I am now.”

“London?” 

Zayn smiles. “Yes.” He pauses before he continues. “And with you, Niall.” 

Niall’s eyes go wide as soon as Zayn finishes. “What..” Niall feels like he is having a déjà vu. This reminds him so much of the night where Zayn confessed to him about his feelings. 

“I met a lot of people when I travelled, Niall. But at the end of the day, it’s only you that I have in my mind. So I packed up again and decided that I want to go for what I want. And for now, all I want is you.” Zayn says. 

Niall blinks his eyes rapidly as he too shock to response to Zayn’s bluntness. He should’ve known that this trait of Zayn would never change and he is glad that Zayn hasn’t change since he last saw him. 

“So, what do you want me to do about that?” Niall asks because honestly, he is lost on what to do at the moment. 

“Accept me. Give me a chance. Give _us_ a chance.” Zayn urges as he looks straight into Niall’s blue eyes. 

“Wouldn’t it be awkward? I mean what’s with you and Louis are friends and all..” 

Zayn shakes his head and chooses his next words carefully. “Louis had moved on.” He states simply, hoping Niall understands what he is trying to say without hurting Niall’s feeling. 

“Oh. I see.” Niall says understandingly. He doesn’t know that because apparently Louis was also completely missing from his life after their last encounter where he slapped the older guy. It stings a little knowing that he had been replaced but Niall knows it is just part of his ego, not his feeling anymore. Because deep down, he knows he already forgotten about Louis actually. 

Niall shrugs and looks at Zayn. “Maybe I will give us a chance.” And Niall couldn’t help but smile in return when Zayn’s smile so wide and bright after that. 

 

**

 

“Why won’t you?” Liam asks, startling Niall from his thoughts as they are watching movie at Niall’s house. 

“Huh?” Niall says confusingly. 

“About you and Zayn. You told me that you don’t know if you’ll give him a chance or not, but here I’m asking, why won’t you?”  
Niall shrugs. Only Liam would choose to ask the question in the middle of their movie night, of course. “I don’t know. It’s not that I won’t give him a chance but..” Niall stops and sighs. 

“But what?” 

“I don’t know.” Niall replies honestly. 

Liam wraps one of his arm around Niall’s shoulder, pulling his bestfriend for hug and feels Niall slumps o his chest. “Ni, don’t be afraid of taking chances. I know you had bad experiences before but Zayn is different. I think he is the perfect one for you.” 

“You said that about Louis before.” Niall mumbles. 

“Yeah, I admit that. But it was true, wasn’t it? He was perfect but he was stupid, that’s all I know. Stupid enough to let you slip out from his grip. And I won’t let you make the same mistake with Zayn.” 

Niall pulls away and looks at Liam. “What do you mean by that?” 

“Zayn was in love with you, Ni. He still is. And he always sacrifices his own happiness just to let you happy. Doesn’t that moves you a little bit? To have someone that loves you so much that they are willing to do anything to make you happy?” 

Niall swallows thickly and stares at Liam dumbfound. He doesn’t know how to response to that. Liam smiles understandingly and pulls Niall into his one-armed hug again. “Don’t frown too much, it’s not good for your cute face.” Liam teases. “It’s okay, Niall. You don’t have to figure it out in one night. I don’t expect you to. And Zayn certainly doesn’t expect that, either.” 

 

**

 

“Harry, are you busy at the moment?” Niall asks as soon as Harry’s voice is heard at the other end of the phone. 

“Nah, just having a time off before the tour tomorrow. What’s up, Ni?” Harry asks, his voice sounds normal so Niall figures that he is not calling at the wrong time where Harry might be asleep or something. 

“Well, Zayn came to the café last week..” Niall starts and tells the whole story to Harry. Harry seems to listen and only hums in response until Niall finishes. 

“So, that’s it.” Niall stops and Harry replies with a simple hums. 

“Does he loves Adam?” Harry asks suddenly. 

“I guess so?” Niall replies in a question because he is taken aback by Harry’s unexpected question. 

Harry chuckles at Niall’s uncertain tone and cluelessness. “Ni, for all I know, Zayn loves Adam as much as he loves you. And Liam sometimes updates me with your guys’ life so I know that Zayn is really putting his efforts for you and Adam. So why don’t you just give him a chance and let him be another father figure to Adam as well?” 

Niall sighs and slumps towards his couch as he stares at the ceiling. “Am I not enough father figure for Adam now?” 

“Ni, I know you know that I didn’t mean it like that. What I mean is, the café is expanding and you guys are getting busy, isn’t it great if you have someone else to look after Adam when you’re at work?” 

“I can get a nanny for that.” Niall replies stubbornly.  
“Yeah, figures you’re going to say that, smartass. But the thing is, would the nanny loves Adam as much as you are? You know Zayn loves him like his own son, right?” 

Niall sighs again. He knows that Zayn loves Adam. He is just too stubborn to let Zayn into his life again. He doesn’t want to be hurt again. But Harry does have a point. 

“Okay. I’ll try.” Niall says and rolls his eyes as Harry lets out a triumphant yells. 

 

**

 

And so when Niall meets Zayn again, not on a date, just a quick drop by at Zayn’s gallery (yes, he still owns that), Niall tells Zayn that he agrees to give them another try. 

“But no label or anything, yet.” Niall says sternly. 

Zayn who is beyond happy just nods and pulls Niall into a tight hug. “I won’t let you down!” 

 

**

 

“Daddy, look at this!” Adam calls excitedly as he shows Niall a piece of paper in his little hands. Niall picks it up and looks at the drawing on the paper. 

“Who draw this?” Niall asks as he picks up his son into his arms and walks towards the swing at their front porch. 

Adam smiles widely and points to himself eagerly. “I did!” 

Niall puts Adam on the swing and takes a seat beside his son before he takes a look at the drawing again. “This is beautiful.” Niall says sincerely. He knows Adam likes to draw but he doesn’t realize that his son has a seed of talent like this. 

“Thank you! I like to draw more now, daddy!” Adam speaks animatedly, making Niall chuckles. Who would’ve thought that a year ago he almost lost Adam to cancer but he is thankful to God everyday for the donor and the chance that He gave Adam to live. 

“That’s good. I wish I know how to teach you to draw.” Niall says. 

“You don’t even know how to draw a stick, daddy!” Adam says and giggles while Niall rolls his eyes as his son for making fun of his lack of talent in drawing. “I got Uncle Zayn to teach me to draw.”

Niall raises his eyebrows. “Oh, so that’s what you and Uncle Zayn has been doing at his gallery, yeah?” Niall asks. Now, when Adam is finishes with his school, Niall will drop his son at Zayn’s gallery and picks him up later on. The new arrangement had been suggested by Zayn and surprisingly everyone is liking it. 

Adam nods happily and wraps his little arms around Niall’s waist, leaning his head on Niall’s chest. Niall kisses Adam’s hair (which takes some times to grow back after the chemo) and Adam sighs happily. “I like him, daddy.” 

“Everyone likes him.” Niall replies shortly. 

“But you don’t.” Adam says and Niall raises his eyebrows. Zayn’s bluntness must be rubbing off his son at some point. 

“Who tells you that?” 

Adam shrugs. “Uncle Zayn. But he says he likes you so much and he will makes you like him too. He says you just need time and he will try his best.” 

“He tells you all that?” Niall asks, surprise by the openness between Zayn and his son.

Adam nods and grins at Niall. “Yeah. He says he doesn’t want to hide anything from me. And he says that I’m a smart boy.” 

Niall shakes his head and smiles. “Yes, you’re a very smart boy.” He says and pinches Adam’s red cheeks. Adam seems to have a tendency to easily blush like himself and Niall laughs out loud at that. 

Adam swats Niall’s hands away from his cheeks and laughs. “But he also says that I’m so adorable and cute, just like my daddy.” And this time, Adam is the one who starts to pinch Niall’s red cheeks instead. 

 

**

 

Harry enters his house (shared house with Niall) dramatically and Adam leaps into his arms as usual and Harry couldn’t be happier. Though Adam is Niall’s son, everyone knows the little kid has a spot in their hearts, just like Harry’s. Niall rolls his eyes at the sight and once Adam pulls away, Harry pulls Niall into a big hug. 

They decide to hang out at the backyard once Adam is sleeping and Harry decides to drops a bombshell at that moment. 

“I’m dating a girl.” He announces and Niall doesn’t even have the urge to spill his drink because honestly, what’s new? 

“You’re always dating a girl.” Niall deadpans and Harry lets out an indignant “hey!” before he smacks Niall’s arms. 

Niall chuckles and Harry rolls his eyes. “Ni, I’m serious.” He says and crosses his arms over his chest. 

Niall stifles his laughs and nods. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Go on. Who is this girl that manages to tame the womanizer-Harry-Styles?” 

Harry snorts at the nickname that the media had given him over the years. If only they knew how hopeless romantic he is. “His name is Miranda. Half-Spanish. Met her at her universities couple of months ago. She’s cool. I have a gut feeling that she is the one for me.” Harry says. 

“Well, you had a gut feeling about Taylor too and look what happened at the Grammys.” Niall teases. 

Harry frowns slightly and glares (attempting to) at Niall for bringing that up. “It was only one mistake.” Harry whines and Niall laughs out loud as Harry pouts. When Niall doesn’t stop laughing, Harry starts to laugh too and punches Niall’s arm playfully. “Jerk.” 

“Hey, Harry. Has your private investigator finds the mysterious donor?” Niall suddenly asks once they stop laughing. Niall had asked Harry to use his contact to find the donor because Niall really wants to thank the donor but the efforts seems fruitless because apparently the mysterious donor really living up to his name, mysterious. 

Harry shakes his head. “Not yet, Ni.” 

 

**

 

“I feel bad for lying to him, Li.” Harry says as he sits on the stool and faces Liam and Danielle. 

Both Liam and Danielle nod, agreeing with Harry. “We feel the same way too, Harry. But you know that Zayn made us promise.” 

“I know but Niall really wants to know about the donor..” Harry sighs. 

“Yeah. But Zayn doesn’t want Niall to accept him because of that. He wants Niall to accept him for him.” Liam says and wraps his arms around his wife. He too, is torn like Harry. They don’t want to lie to Niall but they also don’t want to break their promises to Zayn. Their thoughts are broken by the sound of the glass shatters behind them. Liam gasps and Harry stands up quickly. “Ni…” 

“Zayn is the donor?” He asks almost quietly. He is too shock and unfortunately drops his glass as he overheard the conversation. “Why does everyone but me knows that?” Niall asks and stares accusingly at all of them. 

“Ni, he doesn’t want you to know that because..” Harry starts but Niall cuts him in. 

“Because he doesn’t want me to accept him? I heard that.” 

“Ni, we’re sorry.” Liam says and Niall shakes his head. 

“I gotta go.” Niall says and turns around, grabbing his car keys and heading to one place in his mind. 

 

**

 

Niall bangs on the door loudly, doesn’t even care that if it’s already late at night and waits impatiently until Zayn opens the door. 

“Niall?” Zayn says and rubs his eyes tiredly. 

Niall, without any word, leans closer to hug Zayn tightly and buries his head on Zayn’s shoulder. “Thank you very much. Thanks for giving me my life back, Zayn.” 

Zayn who is quite surprised by the sudden action, returns the hug and sighs. “So, you know now.” Zayn states and Niall nods. Zayn sighs again and leads Niall to sit on the couch as they sit side by side. 

“What else do you know?” Zayn asks. 

“Just that you’re the mysterious donor for Adam. Why? Is there anything else besides that?” 

Zayn shakes his head. “Nothing is important, I guess.” 

Niall frowns slightly and stares at Zayn. “You say you’re always honest with your words, Zayn. So now, be honest with me. What else should I know?” 

Zayn sighs and rubs his face with his hands before he starts to speak again. “Look, I didn’t want you to know that I was the one who donate my marrow bone to Adam cause I don’t want you get pressured to be with me out of good deeds. So I asked your friends to keep the secret. Don’t be mad at them. So, I told you I was travelled around, right?” 

Niall nods and Zayn continues. “I didn’t want to completely cut you off my life, actually, so I let Liam and Harry knows about my whereabouts and also asked them to look out for you.” 

Niall feels so touched by Zayn’s revelation that he doesn’t even know how to react. Zayn had just not saved Adam, but he saved Niall too. 

“Zayn…I don’t know what to say..” Niall chokes out and doesn’t realize when he starts crying. 

Zayn smiles and put his hands on Niall’s face, stroking Niall’s wet cheeks and wipes Niall’s tears away. “You don’t have to say anything, Niall. I love you. I know it, you know it and everyone knows it. And even if you don’t love me now, I’ll try to wait for that day to happen when you will love me back. If you let me.”  
“Zayn, I don’t deserve this…” 

Zayn shakes his head. “Yes, you do. You’re always taking care of everyone else, Ni. Especially Adam. You deserve someone who could do the same for you too. So let me take care of you, of Adam too..” Zayn says and leans closer to put his forehead on Niall’s, staring right into the beautiful eyes of Niall. “Will you?” 

Niall nods and leans closer too. It takes time but slowly their lips meet. It was not rush but not too slow either. It’s passion and courage and mature. “I will, Zayn..” 

 

** 

 

“Daddy, look! Zayn is drawing us.” Adam points out excitedly as they both lies on the grass at the park while Zayn is sketching them nearby. 

Niall tilts his head to look at Zayn and smiles at his boyfriend. Yes, they’re officially dating after all. Once Niall opens his heart for Zayn, they’re trying to build their relationship and somehow, Niall is falling for Zayn’s patience and maturity. And like they always say, the rest is history. 

“Babe, don’t try to draw me like a puppy this time!” Niall teases and Zayn sticks his tongue out at Niall. Niall rolls his eyes. Okay, maybe sometimes Zayn can be immature too but that’s not the point. 

“Oh, now Uncle Zayn is your babe?” Adam asks playfully and Niall rolls his eyes again. His friends really had some influences of Adam because his 7-year old son is now teasing like Liam and Harry used to. 

Niall pulls Adam into his arms and let his son lies his head on his chest as they both stare at the beautiful sky. “Are you jealous?” Niall teases his son in return. Two could play the game, right? 

“I’m not jealous.” Adam whines but Niall knows his son too well. So he put his arms tighter around Adam and whispers to the little ears. “You’re always gonna be my baby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone that had been reading this story. :) Thanks for all the kudos and comments. I'm still trying to improve my writing skills so feel free to check out my other stories too. Love you guys, xx


	27. Ending 3 (Nouis)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is Ending 3 (Nouis). The other two endings can be found by the chapter index. Enjoy xx

Niall runs towards Adam’s hospital room as soon as he parks his car. He ignores all the warning and angry voices from the nurses as he passes through the hallway. He doesn’t care, he just wants to reach his son as soon as possible. 

“Harry? Liam?” Niall calls out, gasping for breath as soon as he spots his friends, standing outside Adam’s room. “Why are you guys out here?” 

Harry turns to face his bestfriend and pulls Niall into his hug. “Ni, Adam…he was suffocated and the doctor is trying to help him..” Harry starts to explain. 

“I want to see him!” Niall says as he tries to wriggle out from Harry’s grip. 

“Ni, you can’t. They’re trying their best to save him.” Liam pipes in, holding Niall tightly as Niall tries to run into the room. 

Niall can feel his spirit crumbles as he looks at the closed door. He knows Liam and Harry are right, but he couldn’t help that he really wants to see his son so badly at the moment. Please God, please save Adam, Niall prays silently. 

Liam guides Niall to sit at the chairs near the room, waiting for the doctor to come out. He throws a worried glance at Harry as Niall slumps back to the chair and closes his eyes. Liam and Harry were sitting with Adam when suddenly the kid woke up, coughing like mad and suffocated on his breath. It set Liam and Harry into panic as they frantically called for the nurse and doctor. They were ushered out of the room ever since and decided to call Niall. And they had been waiting for the news until Niall arrived. 

“Mr. Horan.” Niall snaps his eyes open upon the call of his name and he springs out of his seat. He takes a look at the doctor and as the doctor looks at him, Niall can feel his heart is bursting out of nervousness. The face of the doctor seems indifference. 

“Adam had some trouble with his breathing earlier but we managed to fix it.” The doctor says. “And one of my nurses had informed me that we’ve found a donor for Adam.” He continues. 

Niall feels his head spinning as the doctor confirms the news. “Who…” Niall trails off, his question lingers in his mouth. He is too shock to react. 

“All the papers had been already signed, except on your behalf. So you can follow me now to sign for the release letter and we can start the surgery as soon as we can.” The doctor cuts in and Niall nods, glancing back at Liam and Harry who nod as well, gesturing him to follow the doctor. 

“Holy shit..” Harry curses as soon as Niall is out from their sight. Liam pats Harry’s shoulder gently. “I know, Hazza.” Liam says. Both of them were expecting the worse but turns out, they were wrong. They thought Adam was gone but thank God he didn’t. Once they got over their shock for the turns of event that had happened, they start to walk towards the doctor’s room. 

 

**

 

Niall watches as Adam is stretched into the operation room and there is a second stretcher and Niall takes a look at the donor. 

“Louis?” Niall gasps in surprise because what the hell? 

Louis smiles slightly at Niall before he is being pushed into the same room as Adam and Niall shakes his head. Louis is the donor for Adam? 

 

**

 

“May I know which room Mr. Louis Tomlinson in?” Niall asks as he smiles sweetly at the nurse. Once the nurse gives him the number, Niall walks toward the room. Niall takes a deep breath before he knocks the door. 

“Come in.” Niall hears the muffles from the inside and let himself in. 

“Niall!” Louis greets with a wide smile as soon as he sees the Irish guy. 

“Hi, Louis.” Niall greets back and Louis’s smile falters a bit. Niall used to call him ‘Lou’ instead of Louis. 

“So, what brings you here?” Louis asks, looking at the person that he misses the most at the moment. 

Niall glances at Louis and starts to talk. “I..um..I just want to thank you for saving Adam’s life.” 

Louis nods and stares at Niall who seems to avoid any eye contact with him. “Niall, I’m sorry for what I did and said, okay? And you’re welcome. I’m just glad that I can help Adam cause the kid really has a special place in my heart.” Louis says and smiles when Niall looks at him briefly. “Like you.” He continues. 

Apparently, Niall hears that and starts to back away to the door. “Hurm, so I guess, that’s the only thing that I wanna say. Thank you again.” He says quickly before he bolts out of the room. 

Louis sighs as he sees the door closes. “I miss you, Niall.” He whispers to the empty room. 

 

** 

 

“Look, just because you’re his donor and also teacher, doesn’t give you the right to pop in front of my house anytime you want.” Niall says, annoyed with the sudden appearance of Louis in front of his house. 

“Well, I got invited, so here I am.” Louis says, showing his teeth as he grins widely. 

Niall raises his eyebrows. As far as he concerned, nobody knows about his little birthday gathering except for his close friends. Unless..

“Lou! You’re here!” Liam greets excitedly and Niall rolls his eyes. Of course. Only Liam and his kindness and big heart that will invite Louis to their intimate party gathering. 

Niall forces a smile, “wait here for a second,” he tells Louis before he pulls Liam inside the house. “What the hell are you doing? Did you forget that I don’t want anyone else except for us tonight?” Niall fumes. 

Liam sighs and puts his hands on Niall’s shoulder. “Look, I know you were mad at him..” 

“Still am!” Niall retorts. 

Liam ignores Niall and continues. “..but he saved Adam’s life, Ni. And he really wants to redeem himself back. So I guess, we could give him a little chance to prove it, yeah?” 

Niall shrugs Liam’s hands off and shakes his head. “What’s Harry going to say about this?” 

Liam raises his eyebrows. “Actually, it was Harry’s idea from the beginning.” 

“What?!” Niall shrieks. Why doesn’t he know that? “Am I the only one who clueless here?” 

Liam nods sheepishly. “Maybe. I take it Harry didn’t tell you that he and Louis had found some truce when he visited Louis at the hospital after the operation.” 

Niall shakes his head. “He didn’t tell me anything at all about that. That little fucker.” Niall curses under his breath. “So you two are ganging up on me, now?” Niall asks and Liam nods. “What if I say I don’t want him here?” 

“Mr. Lou! Why are you out here? Come in with me!” Adam’s voice is heard at the front porch and Niall sighs as he walks toward the door and opens it. 

“Daddy! I’m back! Uncle Harry and I bought a cake for you!” Adam announces excitedly as he leaps into Niall’s arms and Niall glares at Harry who has the tendency to grin sheepishly as he spots Louis at the front door. 

“Come in all of you. Don’t want you guys to freeze your as..” Niall starts and stops as he realizes Adam is in his arms. “..freeze your hands off out here.” 

Harry enters follows by Adam who has leaps out of Niall’s arm and Louis walks in as Niall starts to close the door. “Happy birthday, sexy mofo.” Louis whispers as he walks pass Niall and Niall freezes on the spot. His heart doesn’t stop pounding until Louis is out of his sight and there is only one word that could come out from Niall’s mouth at the moment. “Shit!”

 

**

 

“Daddy! Let’s go there!” Adam exclaims excitedly as he tucks Niall’s jacket and Niall shakes his head before he starts to follow his bouncy son to one of the games at the theme park. 

“He looks happy.” Niall turns his head to see the guy besides him. “Yeah, he is.” Niall replies. “Thanks for bringing him here, Louis.” He continues. 

Louis smiles and walks besides Niall as they both keep their eyes on Adam, watching the kid playing around happily. “His bounciness reminds me of you.” Louis says and Niall rolls his eyes. 

“Here we go again.” Niall says and Louis chuckles. He likes how Niall’s face can turn into a red shade when he is being teased and that’s what Louis doing at the moment. He knows Niall is being stubborn because somehow he gets the feeling that Niall still loves him, albeit his mistake but Niall doesn’t seem that he wants to admit it. Louis understands that Niall needs time, so he lets it slides some time when Niall seems to snap at him. But that doesn’t mean that he will stop winning Niall’s heart back. 

“You remember that this is the place where we went for our first date?” Louis asks, testing the water. One of the reasons that he takes Adam and Niall to the theme park is because he had promised to take Adam there but he also wants to reminisce his memory with Niall as well. 

“Yeah.” Niall replies shortly. Of course he remembers. 

“I remember how your eyes lit up when you saw all the games. You were happy and at that moment I knew I loved that light in your eyes. I loved the way you smiled so wide and how you laughed happily when you won the prize for Adam. And that was the moment I truly thought that I was head over heels for you. And I still am.” Louis says as he looks at Niall. 

Niall avoids any eye contact with Louis and stares straight ahead. “Louis, you’re the one who screwed up, remember?” Niall deadpans. 

If Louis is hurt by that words, he doesn’t show it, but he forces a smile instead. “I know. And I’m willing to fix it, Niall. I’m willing to fight for your heart to be mine again, Niall. Is it too much to ask from you?” 

Niall sighs. He knows deep down, he always has a soft spot in his heart for Louis but he just can’t be vulnerable again. “I’m not interested, Louis. Not anymore.” Niall says and part of him knows he is lying but he doesn’t want Louis to hurt him again. Once is enough. 

Louis nods and gives Niall a sad smile. “If you say so.” He says and leans closer to Niall as he starts to whisper into Niall’s ears. “But I’m still interested.” 

 

**

 

“Bye Niall!” Liam says and Niall waves his bestfriend off as he closes the door. Tonight it’s his turn to close the café and he starts to put up the chairs on the table when the door opens. 

“Sorry, we’re closed.” Niall says and turns to look at the person who just entered the café. “Stan.” 

“Hi, Niall. Long time no see.” Stan says and smirks. There’s something in his eyes that makes Niall feels uneasy. 

“Yeah. Sorry, dude. I’m about to close off here.” Niall says, hinting that he doesn’t want to talk at the moment. 

“Closing so early? Why, do you have a date with Louis tonight?” Stan says as he advances towards Niall and Niall swallows nervously. 

“What? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Niall replies as he steps backward until his back is connected with the counter. 

Stan lets out a loud manic laugh that makes Niall’s heart beats faster because there’s a sudden gleam in Stan’s eyes that scares Niall. “Don’t play dumb with me, Niall.” Stan hisses and steps closer to Niall. 

Niall glances to the counter and sees his cellphone at the end of the counter and he tries to reach it. Unluckily, Stan sees it and grabs Niall’s hand away. “Trying to call your little boyfriend to help, huh?” Stan hisses again as he shoves Niall to the side and Niall stumbles backward. 

“What the hell do you want from me?” 

“Funny you should ask that.” Stan says and pauses. “I want you dead.” He snarls. 

“What? Why?!” Niall asks as he tries to reach for his phone again but being a bigger one, Stan beats him to it and starts to throttle Niall, making the Irish guy chokes. 

“Because you steal my Louis!” Stan spats. 

“I’m not stealing him!” Niall says, trying to pry off Stan’s finger from his neck. 

Stan tightens his grip and Niall feels the black spots start to dance in front of his eyes. “Yes you are! I thought I got rid of you when I tricked Louis to sleep with me, but turned up I was wrong. He is still pining over you and you, you also let him back again into your life. And I hate it.” 

Niall gasps for breath and struggles to get free. Finally he tries to kick Stan’s groin and it seems to work as he is released from Stan’s grip. Niall darts to the door but Stan is faster than him. Niall topples over one of the chairs and falls to the floor. Stan yanks Niall’s feet and drags him like a rag doll. Niall tries to grab something to hold on to but nothing seems to be in his reach. Before he knows it, Stan has he pinned down and starts to throw punches on Niall’s face. Niall spits out blood and tries to fight back but he is smaller than Stan and his head starts to get dizzy. Then Niall sees it, the nearest item that he can reach is the small vase near the corner and without hesitation, Niall grabs the vase and bashes it to Stan’s head, making Stan stumbles backward and Niall takes the opportunity to run again. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Stan growls and Niall doesn’t even glance backwards as he makes his way to the door. He is about to open the door when suddenly he is yanked back and falls to the floor again. “Shit.” He curses and this time Stan leaves no mercy as he kicks Niall on the ribs repeatedly. Niall is on the brink of unconsciousness when he hears a familiar voice. 

“Stan! What the hell!”

 

**

 

“Stan! What the hell!” Louis yells as soon as he enters the café. He has a plan with Niall tonight and when Niall didn’t show up, Louis decided to check on him. And thank God he decided to do that because he didn’t expect to see Stan beating up Niall and he snaps. He lunges toward Stan and starts to punch him. Stan seems to be shocked but manages to dodge some of Louis’s attack and shoves Louis hard before he flees from the scene. 

Louis wants to chase Stan and beats him up but then he notices the condition that Niall is in. He kneels beside Niall and gently lifts Niall’s head into his arms, wiping some of the bloods from Niall’s lips and nose. “Oh my God..” 

“Louis..” Niall calls weakly and Louis shakes his head. “Shhh..I got you.” Louis says and fishes out his phone, starting to call the ambulance. Once he’s done, he looks down back at Niall and his worry spikes when he sees Niall’s eyes flutters and about to close. “Niall, I need you to wake up, okay? You can’t go to sleep. You might have a concussion.” Louis says worriedly. 

“Sorry, Lou..” Niall says before he goes limp and Louis curses under his breath and prays for the goddamn ambulance to come soon. 

 

**

 

Niall groans as he tries to open his eyes and senses the pounding in his head. Slowly, he opens his eyes and stares at the familiar white ceiling and he smells something like…okay, is he in the hospital? He tries to look on his left when suddenly a hand strokes his cheeks softly. 

“You’re awake.” Niall turns his head and manages to smile slightly at the owner of the voice. 

“Lou..” Niall calls out weakly and Louis fusses over him for a while before he calls the doctor in to check for Niall’s condition. 

Once the doctor leaves, Louis shifts to sit on the edge of the bed beside Niall and stares at the blue-eyed lad that he loves so much. “You remember what happened?” Louis asks quietly and Niall takes a moment to think before he nods. 

“Stan attacked me.” Niall says and Louis nods. 

“Yeah. He got you bad, Ni. You have fractured ribs, minor concussion and couple of stitches on your forhead.” Louis explains. “He ran but the police had found him near his housing area and he was arrested.” 

“Good.” Niall replies and shudders slightly as he recalls on how he was attacked by Stan. Louis seems to notice Niall’s body is shaking and he carefully wraps his arms around the lad, avoiding to worse Niall’s injuries. 

Niall lays his head on Louis’s chest, seeking for comfort from the other guy. “Thanks, for saving me.” Niall says after moments of silence. 

Louis sighs. “I’m sorry on behalf of him, Niall. I don’t know he would do that to you.” He says. “I was too late. If only I was there earlier.” He shudders at the thought of Niall’s being beaten up if he was not there at the moment. If he was late, or if he forgot about their plans..or…

“Louis, it’s not your fault. Don’t beat yourself up for it.” Niall assures as he tilts his head up to look at Louis and smiles. “I’m sorry, Louis.” 

Louis raises his eyebrows as he looks down at Niall’s face. “What for?” 

Niall shrugs. “Stan told me that he tricked you to sleep with him.” 

Louis gasps in surprise. “He said that?” He asks and he feels Niall nods on his chest. “That bastard.” Louis hisses. “But it still doesn’t change the fact that I slept with him and you’re still haven’t forgiven me, right?” He asks bluntly. 

Niall shakes his head. “I forgave you a long time ago, Lou. But I just can’t forget it.” He says and pauses. “But I know that everyone makes mistake. You’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. Hell, I even made a big mistake when I was 16 yet everyone is willing to give me a chance to make it up.” 

As soon as Niall finishes, Louis feels his heart fills in with joy and hope. “Does that means we can start over again?” He asks as he leans his face closer to Niall and both of their breaths are mingle together as they stare at each other’s eyes. 

“Well, if you’re still interested..” Niall says and blushes, making Louis coo at his adorableness and without wasting any second, he kisses Niall’s soft lips. They pull away and Louis shifts to sit on the chair again as soon as they hear the familiar voices in front of the door and both of them share a secret smile because they know they will be alright again. 

“Daddy!” Adam calls out excitedly as he leaps onto the bed, making Niall winces slightly at the sudden jerk. 

“Adam, be careful. Don’t hurt your daddy.” Harry scolds gently and Adam nods. 

“Sorry, daddy.” He says as he hugs Niall gently and melts into Niall’s arms. 

Harry and Liam talks with Niall for a while before they notice something is changing in the air between Louis and Niall and both of them make up some excuses to leave, leaving Niall rolling his eyes at his bestfriends subtleness. 

Louis shakes his head at their antiques and starts to cuddle with Niall again, this time, with Adam fits in the middle. 

“Daddy, can you sing me a lullaby?” Adam asks sleepily and Louis smiles fondly at the kid’s cuteness. Niall is feeling sleepy himself and tries so hard to open his eyes but smiles nonetheless. “I can..but I’m too sleepy..” Niall yawns and Louis chuckles and shakes his head fondly at the cuteness around him. Like father, like son. 

“Let me sing it for you guys, yeah?” Louis says and Niall smiles widely. 

“You still remember?” Niall asks in amazement because it seems like it was a long time ago that he had told Louis about Adam’s favorite lullaby. 

Louis nods. “Of course I do.” He says and smiles. He clears his throat and starts to sing softly as he stares at two precious bundles in his arms. 

_You'll always be a part of me..  
I'm a part of you indefinitely..  
Don't you know you can't escape me..  
Cause you'll always be my baby.._

_You’re always gonna be my baby.._

Louis hasn’t even finishes the song when he hears the soft snores from both of his loved ones. He kisses both of their foreheads and smiles contently before he closes his eyes too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone that had been reading this story. :) Thanks for all the kudos and comments. I'm still trying to improve my writing skills so feel free to check out my other stories too. Love you guys, xx

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by David Cook's version of Always Be My Baby.


End file.
